15 may 2019
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR): During Protests In Commemoration of 71st Anniversary of Palestinian Nakba: Israeli Forces Wound 144 Palestinian Civilians, including 49 Children, 4 Women and 1 Paramedic:
On Wednesday, 15 May 2019, Israeli forces wounded 144 Palestinian civilians, including 49 children, 4 women, and 1 paramedic, in excessive use of force against the peaceful participants in the protests organized in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
Those protests- which were called for by the Supreme National Authority of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege under the name of “Millions for Land and Return” in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba- were preceded by the Israeli forces’ military reinforcements along the border fence with the Gaza Strip, indicating a deliberate intent to use excessive force against the protesters.
PCHR’s fieldworkers monitored the deployment of dozens of Palestinian police officers to control the situation and try to prevent the protesters from approaching the border fence. Meanwhile, the protesters acted in a fully peaceful manner as there were no attempts to burn tires.
However, in very limited incidents, some protesters approached the border fence and tried to throw stones at the fence.
According to PCHR’s fieldworkers, the Israeli forces stationed in prone positions and in their military jeeps along the border fence with Israel continued to use excessive force against the protesters.
They fired live bullets and teargas canisters at the protesters, wounding dozens of them without posing any imminent threat or danger to the soldiers’ life.
The Israeli forces also used skunk water cannons against the protesters, particularly in Khan Younis and eastern al-Boreij, in addition to using drones that fire teargas canisters amid the protesters, who were hundreds of meters away from the border fence.
The incidents on 15 May 2019 were as follows:
At approximately 13:00, thousands of civilians, including women, children and entire families, started swarming to the five encampments established by the Supreme National Authority of Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege adjacent to the border fence with Israel in eastern Gaza Strip cities.
Hundreds of protesters, including children and women, gathered adjacent to the border fence with Israel in front of each encampment and its vicinity and protested between tens and hundreds of meters away from the fence.
The protesters chanted slogans, raised flags, and in very limited incidents attempted to approach the border fence and throw stones at the Israeli forces.
The Israeli shooting, which continued until around 18:00, resulted in the injury of 144 Palestinian civilians, including 49 children, 4 women and 1 paramedic, with live and rubber bullets and by being directly hit with teargas canisters.
Meanwhile, dozens of protesters, paramedics, journalists and PCHR’s fieldworkers suffered tear gas inhalation and seizures due to tear gas canisters that were fired by the Israeli forces from the military jeeps, riffles and drones in the eastern Gaza Strip.
The following table shows the number of civilian casualties due to the Israeli forces’ suppression of the Great March of Return since its beginning on 30 March 2018:
Killed Wounded
Total 206 12559
Children 44 2492
Women 2 382
Journalists 2 202
Medical personnel 3 203
Persons with disabilities 9 Undefined
Note:
Among those wounded, 548 are in serious condition and 137 had their lower or upper limbs amputated; 123 lower-limb amputations, 14 upper-limb amputations, and 25 children had their limbs amputated according to the Ministry of Health.
The number of those wounded only include those wounded with live bullets and directly hit with tear gas canisters, as there have been thousand others who suffered tear gas inhalation and sustained bruises.
PCHR reiterates Palestinians’ right to peaceful assembly to confront Israel and its forces’ denial of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, right to return and right to end the occupation of the Palestinian territory.
PCHR stresses that the Israeli forces should stop using excessive force and respond to the legitimate demands of the protesters, particularly in regard with lifting the closure that is the real solution to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR emphasizes that continuously targeting civilians, who exercise their right to peaceful assembly or while carrying out their humanitarian duty, is a serious violation of the rules of international law, international humanitarian law, the ICC Rome Statute and Fourth Geneva Convention.
Thus, PCHR reiterates its call upon the ICC Prosecutor to open an official investigation in these crimes and to prosecute and hold accountable all those involved in issuing or applying orders within the Israeli forces either at the security or political echelons.
PCHR also emphasizes that the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention should fulfill their obligation under Article 1; i.e., to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances and their obligations under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
PCHR calls upon Switzerland, in its capacity as the Depository State for the Convention, to demand the High Contracting Parties to convene and ensure Israel’s respect for this Convention, noting that these grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions regarding the guarantee of Palestinian civilians’ right to protection in the occupied territories.
Public Document
**************************************
Follow PCHR on Facebook and Twitter
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
Gaza- Jamal ‘Abdel Nasser “al-Thalathini” Street – Al-Roya Building- Floor 12 , El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
On Wednesday, 15 May 2019, Israeli forces wounded 144 Palestinian civilians, including 49 children, 4 women, and 1 paramedic, in excessive use of force against the peaceful participants in the protests organized in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
Those protests- which were called for by the Supreme National Authority of the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege under the name of “Millions for Land and Return” in commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba- were preceded by the Israeli forces’ military reinforcements along the border fence with the Gaza Strip, indicating a deliberate intent to use excessive force against the protesters.
PCHR’s fieldworkers monitored the deployment of dozens of Palestinian police officers to control the situation and try to prevent the protesters from approaching the border fence. Meanwhile, the protesters acted in a fully peaceful manner as there were no attempts to burn tires.
However, in very limited incidents, some protesters approached the border fence and tried to throw stones at the fence.
According to PCHR’s fieldworkers, the Israeli forces stationed in prone positions and in their military jeeps along the border fence with Israel continued to use excessive force against the protesters.
They fired live bullets and teargas canisters at the protesters, wounding dozens of them without posing any imminent threat or danger to the soldiers’ life.
The Israeli forces also used skunk water cannons against the protesters, particularly in Khan Younis and eastern al-Boreij, in addition to using drones that fire teargas canisters amid the protesters, who were hundreds of meters away from the border fence.
The incidents on 15 May 2019 were as follows:
At approximately 13:00, thousands of civilians, including women, children and entire families, started swarming to the five encampments established by the Supreme National Authority of Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege adjacent to the border fence with Israel in eastern Gaza Strip cities.
Hundreds of protesters, including children and women, gathered adjacent to the border fence with Israel in front of each encampment and its vicinity and protested between tens and hundreds of meters away from the fence.
The protesters chanted slogans, raised flags, and in very limited incidents attempted to approach the border fence and throw stones at the Israeli forces.
The Israeli shooting, which continued until around 18:00, resulted in the injury of 144 Palestinian civilians, including 49 children, 4 women and 1 paramedic, with live and rubber bullets and by being directly hit with teargas canisters.
Meanwhile, dozens of protesters, paramedics, journalists and PCHR’s fieldworkers suffered tear gas inhalation and seizures due to tear gas canisters that were fired by the Israeli forces from the military jeeps, riffles and drones in the eastern Gaza Strip.
The following table shows the number of civilian casualties due to the Israeli forces’ suppression of the Great March of Return since its beginning on 30 March 2018:
Killed Wounded
Total 206 12559
Children 44 2492
Women 2 382
Journalists 2 202
Medical personnel 3 203
Persons with disabilities 9 Undefined
Note:
Among those wounded, 548 are in serious condition and 137 had their lower or upper limbs amputated; 123 lower-limb amputations, 14 upper-limb amputations, and 25 children had their limbs amputated according to the Ministry of Health.
The number of those wounded only include those wounded with live bullets and directly hit with tear gas canisters, as there have been thousand others who suffered tear gas inhalation and sustained bruises.
PCHR reiterates Palestinians’ right to peaceful assembly to confront Israel and its forces’ denial of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, right to return and right to end the occupation of the Palestinian territory.
PCHR stresses that the Israeli forces should stop using excessive force and respond to the legitimate demands of the protesters, particularly in regard with lifting the closure that is the real solution to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
PCHR emphasizes that continuously targeting civilians, who exercise their right to peaceful assembly or while carrying out their humanitarian duty, is a serious violation of the rules of international law, international humanitarian law, the ICC Rome Statute and Fourth Geneva Convention.
Thus, PCHR reiterates its call upon the ICC Prosecutor to open an official investigation in these crimes and to prosecute and hold accountable all those involved in issuing or applying orders within the Israeli forces either at the security or political echelons.
PCHR also emphasizes that the High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention should fulfill their obligation under Article 1; i.e., to respect and ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances and their obligations under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
PCHR calls upon Switzerland, in its capacity as the Depository State for the Convention, to demand the High Contracting Parties to convene and ensure Israel’s respect for this Convention, noting that these grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions regarding the guarantee of Palestinian civilians’ right to protection in the occupied territories.
Public Document
**************************************
Follow PCHR on Facebook and Twitter
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 – 2825893
Gaza- Jamal ‘Abdel Nasser “al-Thalathini” Street – Al-Roya Building- Floor 12 , El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip. E-mail: pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
12 may 2019
Israeli soldiers detained, Sunday, seven Palestinian journalists and one human rights worker, in the northern Plains of the occupied West Bank, as they were documenting the army while displacing families to conduct military training.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers detained seven journalists, identified as Hazem Nasser, Shadi Jarar’a, Ranin Sawafta, Shatha Hammad, Hisham Abu Shaqra, Khaled Bodeir and Mahmoud Fawzi.
They added that the soldiers also detained Fares Foqaha, who works for the Al-Haq independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organization.
The soldiers moved the abducted Palestinians to their military base, east of Tayasir Palestinian village, northeast of Tubas.
The abducted Palestinians were documenting the army’s attack against Bedouin families in Hamsa al-Foqa village, as the soldiers were preparing to conduct live fire military drills.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate strongly denounced the Israeli violation, and said the soldiers also confiscated the equipment carried by the detained journalists.
It called on various international organizations, and the United Nations, to intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli violations against the journalists and media outlets in occupied Palestine.
The Israeli military drills are frequently carried out in the occupied West Bank, and the near Bedouin communities in the Negev, resulting in displacing the families in addition to the dozens of casualties, including fatalities, due to explosives dropped by the army during training.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers detained seven journalists, identified as Hazem Nasser, Shadi Jarar’a, Ranin Sawafta, Shatha Hammad, Hisham Abu Shaqra, Khaled Bodeir and Mahmoud Fawzi.
They added that the soldiers also detained Fares Foqaha, who works for the Al-Haq independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organization.
The soldiers moved the abducted Palestinians to their military base, east of Tayasir Palestinian village, northeast of Tubas.
The abducted Palestinians were documenting the army’s attack against Bedouin families in Hamsa al-Foqa village, as the soldiers were preparing to conduct live fire military drills.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate strongly denounced the Israeli violation, and said the soldiers also confiscated the equipment carried by the detained journalists.
It called on various international organizations, and the United Nations, to intervene and stop the ongoing Israeli violations against the journalists and media outlets in occupied Palestine.
The Israeli military drills are frequently carried out in the occupied West Bank, and the near Bedouin communities in the Negev, resulting in displacing the families in addition to the dozens of casualties, including fatalities, due to explosives dropped by the army during training.
10 may 2019
Abdullah Jom’a Abdul-‘Al, 24
Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, the weekly Great Return March processions on Palestinian lands along the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and wounding 30, including four children, and one medic who was shot in the head.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has confirmed that the soldiers killed Abdullah Jom’a Abdul-‘Al, 24, east of Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
It added that the soldiers also injured thirty Palestinians, including four children, and a volunteer medic, who suffered a head injury while providing treatment to wounded Palestinians.
The medic, identified as Mohammad Abu T’eima, was shot as he, and several other medics were providing treatment to wounded protesters, who were shot by the soldiers on Palestinian lands, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the coastal region.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers resorted to the excessive use of force against the protesters by firing a barrage of live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and high-velocity gas bombs at them.
Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, the weekly Great Return March processions on Palestinian lands along the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip, killing one Palestinian and wounding 30, including four children, and one medic who was shot in the head.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has confirmed that the soldiers killed Abdullah Jom’a Abdul-‘Al, 24, east of Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
It added that the soldiers also injured thirty Palestinians, including four children, and a volunteer medic, who suffered a head injury while providing treatment to wounded Palestinians.
The medic, identified as Mohammad Abu T’eima, was shot as he, and several other medics were providing treatment to wounded protesters, who were shot by the soldiers on Palestinian lands, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the coastal region.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers resorted to the excessive use of force against the protesters by firing a barrage of live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets and high-velocity gas bombs at them.
9 may 2019
by Tareq Astal
13 violations against journalists in the Palestinian territories, by Israeli occupation forces, were recorded during April.
In its monthly report on Israeli violations against journalists, published today, WAFA said that 11 journalists were injured from rubber-coated metal bullets, live bullets and tear gas canisters, fired by Israeli soldiers, as well as from severe beatings.
At the same time, one journalist was detained and another had his press papers seized.
On April 3, the Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal filed by Mustafa Kharouf, a photographer with Turkish Anadolu news agency, to release him from prison so that he can be with his family in Jerusalem, and kept him incarcerated until May 5, the date he is to be expelled to Jordan. (Kharouf’s attorney got an injunction from the Israeli High Court on May 5, stopping his expulsion until it hears his plea.)
On April 5, Israeli forces shot Amad News Agency correspondent Safinaz al-Louh, with a teargas grenade, in her right foot, and Noor News photographer Mohammad Issa with a gas bomb, in his leg, while covering the March of Return protests, east of the Gaza Strip.
On April 10, Israeli forces raided the home of Ra’ed al-Sharif, in Hebron, holding his family in one room before embarking on a thorough search of the house and tampering with its contents.
On April 12, Israeli forces shot Filistin al-Hadath photographer and correspondent Ahmed al-Zurei, with a rubber-coated bullet, in the abdomen, while he was covering protests east of al-Bureij, in the central Gaza Strip.
On April 19, freelance photographer Abdel Rahim al-Khatib was hit with a rubber-coated bullet, in the left thigh, and Reuters photographer Bassam Massoud with a gas grenade, behind his left ear. A similar bomb injured Watan Radio reporter Mohammad al-Louh and freelance photographers Mahmoud Badr, in the left foot, and Ahmad Washah, in the head, while covering protests east of the Gaza Strip.
In the same day, Xinhua photographer Nidal Shtayeh and WAFA photographer Ayman Noubani were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets, in their thighs, while covering the Israeli army’s crackdown on the weekly protests in Kufr Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilia, in the north of the West Bank.
On April 26, Israeli forces targeted Shihab News Agency photographer Ramadan al-Sharif, with a live bullet that hit him in his right foot, while he covered protests east of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
The daily attacks on journalists in the West Bank are part of an ongoing Israeli policy against their activities and their role in covering the practices and violations committed by these forces, against Palestinian civilians and property.
13 violations against journalists in the Palestinian territories, by Israeli occupation forces, were recorded during April.
In its monthly report on Israeli violations against journalists, published today, WAFA said that 11 journalists were injured from rubber-coated metal bullets, live bullets and tear gas canisters, fired by Israeli soldiers, as well as from severe beatings.
At the same time, one journalist was detained and another had his press papers seized.
On April 3, the Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal filed by Mustafa Kharouf, a photographer with Turkish Anadolu news agency, to release him from prison so that he can be with his family in Jerusalem, and kept him incarcerated until May 5, the date he is to be expelled to Jordan. (Kharouf’s attorney got an injunction from the Israeli High Court on May 5, stopping his expulsion until it hears his plea.)
On April 5, Israeli forces shot Amad News Agency correspondent Safinaz al-Louh, with a teargas grenade, in her right foot, and Noor News photographer Mohammad Issa with a gas bomb, in his leg, while covering the March of Return protests, east of the Gaza Strip.
On April 10, Israeli forces raided the home of Ra’ed al-Sharif, in Hebron, holding his family in one room before embarking on a thorough search of the house and tampering with its contents.
On April 12, Israeli forces shot Filistin al-Hadath photographer and correspondent Ahmed al-Zurei, with a rubber-coated bullet, in the abdomen, while he was covering protests east of al-Bureij, in the central Gaza Strip.
On April 19, freelance photographer Abdel Rahim al-Khatib was hit with a rubber-coated bullet, in the left thigh, and Reuters photographer Bassam Massoud with a gas grenade, behind his left ear. A similar bomb injured Watan Radio reporter Mohammad al-Louh and freelance photographers Mahmoud Badr, in the left foot, and Ahmad Washah, in the head, while covering protests east of the Gaza Strip.
In the same day, Xinhua photographer Nidal Shtayeh and WAFA photographer Ayman Noubani were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets, in their thighs, while covering the Israeli army’s crackdown on the weekly protests in Kufr Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilia, in the north of the West Bank.
On April 26, Israeli forces targeted Shihab News Agency photographer Ramadan al-Sharif, with a live bullet that hit him in his right foot, while he covered protests east of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
The daily attacks on journalists in the West Bank are part of an ongoing Israeli policy against their activities and their role in covering the practices and violations committed by these forces, against Palestinian civilians and property.
8 may 2019
Imagine your home being raided at pre-dawn hours by gun-wielding soldiers, your laptop and devices which connect you to the world being confiscated, your dignity stripped from you as you are arrested and taken to a prison to undergo “enhanced interrogation techniques”, and then you discover the crime you committed: expressing your opinion and reporting on facts. This is the case with Palestinian journalists who, on World Press Freedom Day 2019, retain their position as some of the most persecuted and repressed reporters in the world.
As of last month, 22 Palestinian journalists, three of whom are women, were reported to be incarcerated in Israeli prisons, violating the conventions of international rights which guarantee the freedom of the press. “The Israeli occupation arrests [Palestinian] journalists for their opinions and then hauls them before military courts using racist laws,” the Journalists Support Committee (JSC) wrote in a statement on the eve of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day in March.
Israel has a long history of arresting journalists reporting on its violations of human rights, and has mastered the art of suppressing the freedom of the press, particularly that which comes from Palestinian news organisations and journalists. One method in particular is used by Israeli courts to detain and incarcerate Palestinians for a prolonged period of time: administrative detention. This form of judicial oppression is, effectively, incarceration without trial or any charges, and is exploited regularly by Israel on the allegation that the detainee plans to commit a future offence or is a threat to state security.
It is a tactic that Israel particularly enjoyed putting into practice throughout the intifadas of the 2000s, and one which does not discriminate between men, women, and even children. According to the Israeli non-governmental human rights organisation B’Tselem, since 2002 there has not been a single month that has gone by without Israel holding at least 100 Palestinians in administrative detention. With 17 of those currently held under the practice being Palestinian journalists, the method is not alien to them, and their terms of release remain as yet unknown. “Israel’s use of administrative detention blatantly violates the restrictions of international law,” says B’Tselem. “Israel carries it out in a highly classified manner that denies detainees the possibility of mounting a proper defense.”
A recent pivotal point in Israel’s persecution of Palestinian journalists cover the Great March of Return which was launched in March 2018. The protests saw Palestinians demanding their right to return to the homes from which their families were forced out to make way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and an end for the 12-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Despite the peaceful nature of the protests, Israeli forces quickly fired tear gas canisters and live ammunition on unarmed protesters, killing over 250 and injuring 29,187. Among those targeted were Palestinian medics and journalists who were clearly identifiable through their distinctive ‘press’ flak jackets. Two journalists – Yaser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein – were shot and killed by Israeli snipers during the protests. MEMO’s very own journalist, Motasem Dalloul, was shot while covering the protests and our photographer had his camera targeted.
Suppression of truth
It is not only individual journalists who have been persecuted, the repression has also been imposed on entire Palestinian media outlets and news organisation. One example is that of Al-Quds TV. Israel banned the Palestinian broadcaster and news outlet after Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared it a terrorist organisation in July 2018. In response, US-based NGO, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), stated that “banning media outlets under the guise of fighting terrorism and protecting national security is a common practice in the authoritarian states from which Israel says it wants to differentiate itself. We call on Israeli Defense Minister Lieberman to lift the ban on Al-Quds TV and allow its journalists to work freely.”
In March this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Al-Aqsa TV a terrorist organisation, claiming it is used by Hamas to recruit terror groups. Israel has previously bombed the station’s studio in Gaza and forced it to close as a result of the destruction and the management’s inability to locate the finances necessary to rebuild it.
The suppression also spreads far beyond just Palestinian journalists, foreign journalists reporting the reality on the ground are also being choked. Jonathan Cook, a British freelance journalist who lives and works in Nazareth, detailed the legislative limits with regards to licencing and the issue of press control at MEMO’s recent conference “Present Absentees: Palestinian Citizens of Israel & the Nation-State Law” last month. “A lot of what he [Netanyahu] was doing is trying to find ways to control the media, and he’s been quite successful, I think, in Israel in many ways. Mainly at the level of the corporate owners, but he assumes that’s going to filter down to the journalists beneath them. So he’s really starting to develop a stranglehold on the internal Israeli media,” Cook explained. Foreign journalists working for large publications in Israel are pressured through the editors to comply with pro-government agendas, “so Israel has been quite effective at limiting journalistic dissent.”
Cook also outlined the harsh licencing system that Israel imposes on foreign journalists, stating that “there’s a government press office which licenses you, effectively, as a journalist in Israel,” and aside from the military censorship laws, “journalists need to get approval to be working in Israel, and Israel has slowly tightened the rules so that freelance journalists suddenly found they couldn’t get licencing from the government press office and therefore couldn’t work in Israel.” A mixture of these subtle tactics by the Israeli government has, therefore, succeeded in limiting the amount of truth and ground realities that even foreign journalists would potentially report on.
A subtle dictatorship
Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continue to be one of the most contentious areas for journalists to operate in, regardless of their roles or positions, and the repression of Palestinian journalists and media outlets remains an injustice which continues to be left unanswered by the world as well as the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Last month, it was reported that Israel committed 150 violations against Palestinian journalists over the past three months. For a country that claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East and a beacon of freedom – press freedom in particular – Israel eerily resembles more of a repressive dictatorship in its regard for the press.
Israel’s suppression of the Palestinian free press is more than simply the limitations of what journalists can and cannot report on or the fear that resonates with widespread arrests, but is in fact a war against truth itself. The silencing of journalists signifies the covering up of the realities on the ground in place of sugar-coated agenda-driven narratives, preventing the suppressive authority from taking the opportunity to be accountable and reform for the benefit of society and human rights. Israel’s accusation of “incitement” as a legitimate reason to silence dissent, therefore, is part of its wider war on truth, and grimly reflects the exact same mentality which countless other regimes hold – particularly those in the Gulf – which is that to speak truth to power and report on the facts does nothing but “ruin the prestige” of the state and can even amounts to treason.
- Muhammad Hussein is currently reading politics at a university in London. He has a keen interest in the Middle Eastern and international political affairs. His article was published in MEMO.
As of last month, 22 Palestinian journalists, three of whom are women, were reported to be incarcerated in Israeli prisons, violating the conventions of international rights which guarantee the freedom of the press. “The Israeli occupation arrests [Palestinian] journalists for their opinions and then hauls them before military courts using racist laws,” the Journalists Support Committee (JSC) wrote in a statement on the eve of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day in March.
Israel has a long history of arresting journalists reporting on its violations of human rights, and has mastered the art of suppressing the freedom of the press, particularly that which comes from Palestinian news organisations and journalists. One method in particular is used by Israeli courts to detain and incarcerate Palestinians for a prolonged period of time: administrative detention. This form of judicial oppression is, effectively, incarceration without trial or any charges, and is exploited regularly by Israel on the allegation that the detainee plans to commit a future offence or is a threat to state security.
It is a tactic that Israel particularly enjoyed putting into practice throughout the intifadas of the 2000s, and one which does not discriminate between men, women, and even children. According to the Israeli non-governmental human rights organisation B’Tselem, since 2002 there has not been a single month that has gone by without Israel holding at least 100 Palestinians in administrative detention. With 17 of those currently held under the practice being Palestinian journalists, the method is not alien to them, and their terms of release remain as yet unknown. “Israel’s use of administrative detention blatantly violates the restrictions of international law,” says B’Tselem. “Israel carries it out in a highly classified manner that denies detainees the possibility of mounting a proper defense.”
A recent pivotal point in Israel’s persecution of Palestinian journalists cover the Great March of Return which was launched in March 2018. The protests saw Palestinians demanding their right to return to the homes from which their families were forced out to make way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and an end for the 12-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Despite the peaceful nature of the protests, Israeli forces quickly fired tear gas canisters and live ammunition on unarmed protesters, killing over 250 and injuring 29,187. Among those targeted were Palestinian medics and journalists who were clearly identifiable through their distinctive ‘press’ flak jackets. Two journalists – Yaser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein – were shot and killed by Israeli snipers during the protests. MEMO’s very own journalist, Motasem Dalloul, was shot while covering the protests and our photographer had his camera targeted.
Suppression of truth
It is not only individual journalists who have been persecuted, the repression has also been imposed on entire Palestinian media outlets and news organisation. One example is that of Al-Quds TV. Israel banned the Palestinian broadcaster and news outlet after Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared it a terrorist organisation in July 2018. In response, US-based NGO, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), stated that “banning media outlets under the guise of fighting terrorism and protecting national security is a common practice in the authoritarian states from which Israel says it wants to differentiate itself. We call on Israeli Defense Minister Lieberman to lift the ban on Al-Quds TV and allow its journalists to work freely.”
In March this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Al-Aqsa TV a terrorist organisation, claiming it is used by Hamas to recruit terror groups. Israel has previously bombed the station’s studio in Gaza and forced it to close as a result of the destruction and the management’s inability to locate the finances necessary to rebuild it.
The suppression also spreads far beyond just Palestinian journalists, foreign journalists reporting the reality on the ground are also being choked. Jonathan Cook, a British freelance journalist who lives and works in Nazareth, detailed the legislative limits with regards to licencing and the issue of press control at MEMO’s recent conference “Present Absentees: Palestinian Citizens of Israel & the Nation-State Law” last month. “A lot of what he [Netanyahu] was doing is trying to find ways to control the media, and he’s been quite successful, I think, in Israel in many ways. Mainly at the level of the corporate owners, but he assumes that’s going to filter down to the journalists beneath them. So he’s really starting to develop a stranglehold on the internal Israeli media,” Cook explained. Foreign journalists working for large publications in Israel are pressured through the editors to comply with pro-government agendas, “so Israel has been quite effective at limiting journalistic dissent.”
Cook also outlined the harsh licencing system that Israel imposes on foreign journalists, stating that “there’s a government press office which licenses you, effectively, as a journalist in Israel,” and aside from the military censorship laws, “journalists need to get approval to be working in Israel, and Israel has slowly tightened the rules so that freelance journalists suddenly found they couldn’t get licencing from the government press office and therefore couldn’t work in Israel.” A mixture of these subtle tactics by the Israeli government has, therefore, succeeded in limiting the amount of truth and ground realities that even foreign journalists would potentially report on.
A subtle dictatorship
Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continue to be one of the most contentious areas for journalists to operate in, regardless of their roles or positions, and the repression of Palestinian journalists and media outlets remains an injustice which continues to be left unanswered by the world as well as the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Last month, it was reported that Israel committed 150 violations against Palestinian journalists over the past three months. For a country that claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East and a beacon of freedom – press freedom in particular – Israel eerily resembles more of a repressive dictatorship in its regard for the press.
Israel’s suppression of the Palestinian free press is more than simply the limitations of what journalists can and cannot report on or the fear that resonates with widespread arrests, but is in fact a war against truth itself. The silencing of journalists signifies the covering up of the realities on the ground in place of sugar-coated agenda-driven narratives, preventing the suppressive authority from taking the opportunity to be accountable and reform for the benefit of society and human rights. Israel’s accusation of “incitement” as a legitimate reason to silence dissent, therefore, is part of its wider war on truth, and grimly reflects the exact same mentality which countless other regimes hold – particularly those in the Gulf – which is that to speak truth to power and report on the facts does nothing but “ruin the prestige” of the state and can even amounts to treason.
- Muhammad Hussein is currently reading politics at a university in London. He has a keen interest in the Middle Eastern and international political affairs. His article was published in MEMO.
5 may 2019
The Hamas leader Raafat Murra on Sunday decried the Israeli occupation army's targeting of several media offices in the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Murra condemned the Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office and described it as "terrorism" and "deliberate crime".
He affirmed that Hamas fully supports all Palestinian, Arab, and international media platforms which cover the events in Gaza objectively and professionally.
Israeli warplanes on Saturday bombed with several missiles Anadolu Agency office and the Palestinian prisoners media office during large-scale aerial attacks on Gaza.
Murra condemned the Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office and described it as "terrorism" and "deliberate crime".
He affirmed that Hamas fully supports all Palestinian, Arab, and international media platforms which cover the events in Gaza objectively and professionally.
Israeli warplanes on Saturday bombed with several missiles Anadolu Agency office and the Palestinian prisoners media office during large-scale aerial attacks on Gaza.
