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The Palestinian Authority massive intimidation of journalists national |
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 Monday October 07, 2002 11:50 by Omar OmarSarid at yahoo dot com
 The Palestinian Authority massive intimidation of journalists http://palestinefacts.org/pf_faq_palestine_palestinian_press.php www.palestinefacts.com The Palestinian Authority (PA) -- in fact, all Arab regimes -- are undemocratic and bear no sense of responsibility to protect freedom of the press. Censorship is routine. The largest Palestinian newspaper is the East Jerusalem Al-Quds. Unfortunately, its editor can be jailed for publishing anything that Yasser Arafat considers unfavorable to him. In the classic style of dictatorships, in the first two years after the Palestinian Authority took over Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza in 1994, security forces made more than thirty arrests of journalists and editors of all political leanings, with detentions lasting from several hours to a few weeks. Reporters Sans Frontiers, a watchdog group based in Paris, released a report at the end of 1995 deploring the Palestinian Authority's policy of suspending newspapers and employing threats and violence against journalists. It also criticized the press law issued in 1995, which prohibits publication of everything from security secrets to immoral or blasphemous material. In the electronic media, the Voice of Palestine radio station has been primarily used for anti-Semitic, anti-Israel incitement while the TV station mostly does the same or covers Yasser Arafat's public appearances. Since the Palestinian Authority does not directly control the Western media, they have resorted to physical intimidation to skew the coverage their way. Through both official policy and covert methods, the Palestinian Authority has kidnapped the truth. The reference article Palestinian Intimidation of Journalists lists these incidents and more: British photographer Mark Seager told how he was punched in the face by a Palestinian and had his camera smashed to the floor when he tried to photograph Palestinians engaged in violent activities. Aguirre Bertrand of France's TF1 says that Palestinian police took a videotape of from his crew at gunpoint. Chicago Tribune reporter Hugh Dellios was severely beaten by Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City while covering Palestinian riots. Canadian Broadcasting Company foreign correspondent Neil Macdonald was threatened by a group of Arab rioters in Nablus. In a now-famous incident, the barbaric lynching of two Israeli reservists in Ramallah in October 2000, PA operatives did their best to confiscate and destroy tape of the grisly event. According to firsthand reports, a Polish television crew was surrounded by Palestinian security forces, beaten and relieved of their film of the lynching. A British photographer, Mark Seager wrote in London's Sunday Telegraph Oct. 22: I was composing the picture when I was punched in the face by a Palestinian. Another Palestinian pointed right at me, shouting 'no picture, no pictures,' while another guy hit me in the face and said, 'Give me your film.' One guy just pulled the camera from me and smashed it to the floor. Non-partisan sources, such as the US State Department, Amnesty International, Freedom House, and even Palestinian rights groups report that the Palestinian Authority routinely harasses, arrests, beats and tortures journalists who print or report items critical of the PA or Arafat. Palestinian police closed down Hebron's Nawras TV for discussing issues involved in the Palestinian teachers' strike, and the Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence called Khalid Amayreh in for interrogation about the content his Hebron newspaper, Akhbar al-Khalil. When Mr. Amayreh cited press freedom guarantees and questioned the legality of this interrogation, they laughed: "Where do you think you are, Switzerland?" Such heavy-handed treatment fostered self-censorship throughout the Palestinian media. All the major dailies enjoy cozy relations with the PA, and the mainstream press routinely avoids coverage of sensitive issues such as PA corruption and mismanagement, human-rights abuses by security forces, or any reporting that might cast Arafat in a negative light. Sources and additional reading on this topic: Palestinian Intimidation of the Press Journalists describe constant Palestinian intimidation Palestinian Intimidation of Journalists http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/Palestinian_Intimidation_of_Journalists.asp |
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3Freedom of expression cannot be an absolute right. All major international and regional human rights treaties allow for derogations from the right to free expression in certain circumstances, notably in times of national emergency. States throughout the world of all political hues have at one stage or another sought successfully to control media often falsely in the name of the public good, but on circumstances - it is a genuine need for the survival of the state.
The Palestinians are at war. They do not have the luxury of a functioning courts system that can determine fairly where and when freedom of expression can be exercised within their territory. That is what they are fighting to attain.
Israel meanwhile has both overt and tacit support in most of the worlds media for its illegal occupation of palestine and the murderous racist policies it employs to effect its goals. In a perfect world the PA could allow journalists to wander around the west bank and gaza and report precisely on the situation, indeed this is what the PA would like, as then the world may see what the situation is like in the Occupied Territories. Howevr the spin of the western press, notably but not exclusively american media - whose editorial policies are often shaped by zionists - does not do justice to the situation.
Media is often propaganda. As regards the middle east zionist and israeli propaganda, both in domestic and foreign press has for years had a huge impact on popular perceptions of the conflict. The palestinians cannot counter such propaganda on the same level. The other arab countries are too busy with their own self-serving propaganda to help palestine.
Ok, what im saying is that in a war situation, where youve been slaughtered by an imperialist and racist army which has manipulated the press and media by abusing the responsibilities that go hand in hand with the freedom of expression, its imperative that you dont hand your enemies a coup by allowing images such as those of the killings in ramallah be splashed all over a biased press.
The results of such a publication could be the deathknell for the palestinian people - israel could use it as an excuse to justify even more murderous reprisals against an innocent population. Journalism is a weapon - or perhaps more succintly - a tool of war. Before you use a weapon you have to consider the consequences on the civilian population. An irresponsible hack simply seeking a scoop of sorts may not be advancing freedom by exercising what he percieves a s his right or duty, but could be providing ammunition for racists and a murederous military force.
Freedom of expression cannot be an absolute right. All major international and regional human rights treaties allow for derogations from the right to free expression in certain circumstances, notably in times of national emergency. States throughout the world of all political hues have at one stage or another sought successfully to control media often falsely in the name of the public good, but on circumstances - it is a genuine need for the survival of the state.
The Palestinians are at war. They do not have the luxury of a functioning courts system that can determine fairly where and when freedom of expression can be exercised within their territory. That is what they are fighting to attain.
Israel meanwhile has both overt and tacit support in most of the worlds media for its illegal occupation of palestine and the murderous racist policies it employs to effect its goals. In a perfect world the PA could allow journalists to wander around the west bank and gaza and report precisely on the situation, indeed this is what the PA would like, as then the world may see what the situation is like in the Occupied Territories. Howevr the spin of the western press, notably but not exclusively american media - whose editorial policies are often shaped by zionists - does not do justice to the situation.
Media is often propaganda. As regards the middle east zionist and israeli propaganda, both in domestic and foreign press has for years had a huge impact on popular perceptions of the conflict. The palestinians cannot counter such propaganda on the same level. The other arab countries are too busy with their own self-serving propaganda to help palestine.
Ok, what im saying is that in a war situation, where youve been slaughtered by an imperialist and racist army which has manipulated the press and media by abusing the responsibilities that go hand in hand with the freedom of expression, its imperative that you dont hand your enemies a coup by allowing images such as those of the killings in ramallah be splashed all over a biased press.
The results of such a publication could be the deathknell for the palestinian people - israel could use it as an excuse to justify even more murderous reprisals against an innocent population. Journalism is a weapon - or perhaps more succintly - a tool of war. Before you use a weapon you have to consider the consequences on the civilian population. An irresponsible hack simply seeking a scoop of sorts may not be advancing freedom by exercising what he percieves a s his right or duty, but could be providing ammunition for racists and a murederous military force.
I agree journalism is a tool of war. That is exactly what the PA authority has used long before the Intifada 2 was started.
The newspapers and school books of the PA propagate hatred of Israel and the espousement of martyrtym. The school books of Arab youngsters see no Israel on their geography maps. Oslo process was a deception to both Jews and Arabs.
It deceived jews into a false hope, that to reserect a failed statesman and terrorist Arafat, could bring peace between Jews and Arabs. There can be no peace until one side wins the war, or until Arabs accept Israel including Judea and Samaria as Jewish sovereign territory or they can destroy Israel.
There is no in between solution as much as all would like there to be. So let the two sides settle it out and the world stay out of the politics. This a war between Arabs and jews and not Palestinians versus Israelis. To think otherwise is a delusion.
The Arab nations have been just as anti jewish over their 1400 history as the Christian West. Jews were always clasified as second class citizens under the Demi laws and many jewish communities were massacred because they would not convert to Islam.
The recreation of the State of Israel is the answer to anti Jew christians and anti Jew Muslims. There will be no more mass killings of jews and Israel will be a refuge for the poor down trodeden jews of the world. The poor down troden Arabs who live in Israel have about 21 other countries to reside, let them go there, instead of trying to rob the Jews of their ancient homeland, which comprise less than 1% of the middle east.