Ramallah, 7/12/2014 - The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) demands that the increasing number of attacks on Palestinian journalists by the Israeli forces be investigated. The latest consisted in the deliberate shooting of Palestine Public TV cameraman Bashar Nazzal (aged 36) with live bullets while he was covering a weekly demonstration in Kafr Qadoum, near Qalqilya, last Friday. He was seriously injured.
He was shot at with a silencer weapon with explosive ammunitions while he was standing visibly 90-100 meters away from the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces).
Nazzal reported to MADA: “After Friday’s prayers, we headed to cover the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qadoum. There were IOF military vehicles, snipers, and a tank spraying waste water. We moved away to avoid the waste water and then came back to the street. While we were standing at a distance of around 90-100 meters away from the IOF, one of the snipers shot at me. I was far away from the protesters, visible from the army, and there were no other bullet or grenade shot in my direction. The bullet hit my leg and exploded inside, breaking bones. I underwent surgery yesterday in the Arab Specialist Hospital in Nablus. Four fragments were removed from my leg but others are still inside.”
MADA considers this attack as another indicator of a dangerous escalation of violations against Palestinian journalists by the IOF, including the deliberate use of news workers as human shields. Indeed, Reuters photographer Abdulrahman Qousini and European news agency photographer Ala’ Badarne reported to MADA that they were used as human shields while covering events in the villages of Ourif and Kafr Qadoum on 18/11 and 28/11.
MADA wishes Nazzal a speedy recovery and praises the determination of Palestinian journalists to continue exposing Israeli practices to the world. MADA condemns the escalation of Israel’s media freedoms violations, emphasizes the importance of investigating the attack against Nazzal, holding the aggressors accountable, and putting an end to Israel’s impunity which is an encouragement to commit more crimes.
