The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) condemned Monday the attacks committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinian media in Gaza. In addition, PEC, in a statement issued in Geneva, said that it also deplored the fact that Israel is not allowing non-resident media in Gaza to cover the current conflict.
PEC called upon Israel to implement UN Security Council resolution 1738 that forbids any attacks against journalists or media installations.
According to MADA, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, as well as based on additional sources of information, the Israeli army has targeted several Palestinian media installations among them Al Aqsa TV which was destroyed by Israeli bombardment on December 28, 2008 and Al-Resalah newspaper which was also bombarded on January 3.
Two Palestinian journalists were killed, one in previous attacks by Israel, photographer Hamza Shahin, who died on December 26, 2008, and another during the current military round on January 3, Omar Silawi.
The current attacks against Palestinian journalists remind the media community of the attacks that were committed by Israel against Lebanese media in the July-August war 2006.
PEC denounced firmly the act of denying coverage to non-resident media in Gaza, and in subjecting journalists in Israel to military censorship, a matter which questions their ability to cover objectively the conflict from the Israeli side. ithout independent impartial witnesses on the ground it becomes very difficult to monitor human rights violations and that of humanitarian law.
PEC called upon the UN Human Rights Council to quickly take action and establish an independent international enquiry to shed objectively and impartially light on the developments of the conflict.
