“MADA”: Media Freedoms Violations sharply escalated during August
Ramallah –August of 2015 witnessed a high rise in the number of media freedoms violations in Palestine, And recorded a huge leap compared to what was recorded during July, and when compared to all the months since the beginning of 2015, except for the month of June, which also witnessed a similar number of violations.
The Palestinian center for development and media freedoms “MADA” monitored 50 violations in August, a %194 increase compared to July, which witnessed 17 violations. Taking into account that one of the violations monitored in August included 28 journalists from the Gaza Strip, who were prevented by the Israeli occupation from traveling to the West Bank to participate in a media conference, where only three journalists were allowed to travel to the West Bank and participate.
This increase in the number of violations monitored in August came as a result of an evident Israeli escalation in the suppression of media freedoms, where the occupation army and authorities committed 37 violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or 74% of the total number of violations, while the various Palestinian sides in the West Bank and Gaza committed 13 violations.
MADA condemns once again all violations against journalists and the media, and calls to hold those responsible accountable and put an end to all violations.
The Israeli Occupation violations:
The Israeli occupation committed the bulk and the most dangerous number of the total violations monitored during August, and an escalation was clearly noted in the occupation violations and their concentration within types that serve its attempts to suppress and cut the road in front of the media and prevent them from covering the occupation practices.
Among the most prominent Israeli violations that were monitored: the arrest of 4 Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation forces IOF, and prevent 3 other journalists from traveling abroad, as well as the prevention of a large group of journalists from the Gaza Strip from traveling to the West Bank. In addition the IOF informed the "Alreef" radio station, which broadcasts from the city of Dura in Hebron governorate; that the occupation is determined to shut it down, under the pretext of interference with Israeli military radio and Ben Gurion Airport. The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem had fined Palestine TV cameraman Ali Sami and channel "Russia Today" cameraman Mohamed Shukri Esho, the fine was a request from the Occupation police, on the pretext that the journalists were obstructing the movement, while they were covering the occupation police preventing the Palestinian worshipers from entering al-Aqsa mosque.
In addition to a number of injuries of many journalists who were attacked by the occupation forces while covering different events.
Pal Media cameraman Ashraf Abu Shawesh suffered severe suffocation and fainting after the Israeli occupation soldiers shot a gas bomb at him, while he was covering a march in the village of Duma in the Province of Nablus on 1st August, and the flames emitted by a tear gas launcher injured the freelance photographer Ahmed Talat Hassan in his eye, while covering the march in the village of Duma that was suppressed by the IOF. And on 3rd August, the Israeli occupation police raided the office of the Media and public relations officer of the Islamic Awqaf, Firas Yousef Aldebs. On the following day 4th August Aldebs was arrested by the Israeli occupation police, and his camera was seized, while he was covering the arrest of 5 guards of al-Aqsa mosque by the Israeli police. And during the same incident "al-Bashir ProMedia" cameraman Abdul Karim Omar Darwish from Jerusalem was detained and interrogated, and his camera was seized as well.
On 4th August Israeli occupation police summoned freelance journalist Amjad Taher Arafa from Jerusalem, and seized his passport, and handed over a decision preventing him from traveling for three months. And on 7th August the Israeli occupation forces refused to grant member of the General Secretariat of the Journalists’ Syndicate and director of "Klaket" Foundation journalist Omar Naji Nazzal (58 years old) him a permit to enter Jerusalem for treatment.
And on 13th August, The occupation intelligence prevented Secretary of the Administrative Board of the journalists’ Syndicate Abed Alkareen Hussein Abu Arqoub (52 years old); he is also a journalist at Amjad magazine, from traveling abroad through the Allenby Bridge.
And on 16th August Jewish extremists attacked Palestine TV correspondent Christine Rinawi and a number of other journalists, while covering the developments in the case of prisoner Mohammed Allan health deterioration, in front of "Barzillai" hospital in Askalan city.
And on 17th August the Israeli occupation soldiers prevented Nativity local TV correspondent in Bethlehem Amer Omar Hijazi from covering the settlement leveling operations in Beit Jala, they tied him up and detained him, and on the same today day the Israeli occupation intelligence canceled a permit they granted to Palestine TV cameraman Khaled Jamal Kamel Bulbul to travel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, he was interrogated then sent back from Biet Hanoun "Erez"crossing to Gaza.
And on 18th August, members of the Israeli occupation police beat "Q Press” agency photojournalist Abdul Afou Bassam Zoughair, where two members of the Israeli border guards took him to the police station in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation police arrested freelance journalist Samer Hussam Abu Aisha owner of "Haifa Art Production" and confiscated a number of his personal devices, after they raided and searched his home in Jerusalem on 18th August, the Israeli soldiers on 21st August also arrested freelance photojournalist Bilal Hassan Tamimi, from Nabi Saleh village, Ramallah province, while covering a demonstration in the village, and on 24th August the Israeli occupation forces refused permits for 28 journalists from the Gaza Strip to travel to the West, and prevented their participation in an annual conference organized by the media Center at the University of Birzeit, on a number of media issues.
And on 26th The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem had fined Palestine TV cameraman Ali Sami and channel "Russia Today" cameraman Mohamed Shukri Esho, the fine was a request from the Occupation police, on the pretext that the journalists were obstructing the movement, while they were covering the occupation police preventing the Palestinian worshipers from entering al-Aqsa mosque.
On 27th August, the Israeli occupation forces informed the Palestinian military liaison that it intends to stop the broadcast the "Alreef" radio station, which broadcasts from the city of Dura in Hebron governorate, under the pretext of interference with Israeli military radio and Ben Gurion Airport. And on 28th August, photographer Mohammed Basman Yassin was injured by a rubber bullet in his leg, fired at him by an Israeli soldier while covering a march in Bil'in, during the same march the Israeli soldiers detained volunteer photographer in the Israeli human rights organization "B'Tselem" Hamza Suleiman Yaseen- Bernat, after they beat him and smashed his camera.
On 29th August the Israeli occupation intelligence prevented "Al Jazeera Net" correspondent Awad Ibrahim Rajoub from traveling to Qatar, and he was sent back to the West Bank from the Allenby bridge crossing, and on 30th August, Israeli soldiers beat and fired gas and sound bombs towards at least 7 journalists who were covering a march on that Wednesday afternoon against completing the construction of the Apartheid Wall in Beit Jala town near Bethlehem.
The Palestinian Violations:
The Palestinian violations monitored during August remained in the same range in terms of the number of violations monitored in July, MADA monitored 13 violations (9 in the West Bank and 4 in Gaza Strip) committed by the various Palestinian sides, the most prominent violations were the arrest of 2 journalists in the West Bank and a women journalist in the Gaza Strip.
August witnessed to violation cases committed by members of the media sector against fellow journalists, where two members of the Gaza media mission assaulted the editor and cameraman at "Pal Media" Yousef Issa Shaheen, when he asked one of them to interview him at the end of a sports match organized in Hebron. In addition journalist Sami Sai was threatened by a photographer in the colonization and wall resistance commission, because Sami expressed his opinion about an article in a status on his own Facebook page.
On 5th August the Preventive Security Service arrested freelance journalist and editor of the "Quds News Network" Yousef Abdul Latif Shalabi from Tulkarem, as he was leaving a friend's house, the Preventive Security arrested Shalabi a month ago for 12 days on charges of fanning, stirring strife.
On the 5th August, a women journalist at “Bawabet alhadaf” electronic newspaper in Gaza and board member of Radio "the People’s Voice " Mushera Tawfiq al-Haj for a comment she wrote on Facebook about a year ago harshly criticizing the performance of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, after the death of a child in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
and on 14th August, two members of the Gaza media mission (sports commentator and a journalist) assaulted and beaten the editor and cameraman at "Pal Media" Yousef Issa Shaheen, when he asked one of them for an interview at the end of a sports match organized in Hebron.
And on 15th August the Palestinian intelligence prevented Al Quds TV correspondent in Nablus Musab Fathi al-Khatib from covering the march organized in the city and seized his cell phone and deleted what he had filmed, after he was summoned to the intelligence headquarters in the city.
And on 17th August, the Palestinian Preventive Security Service arrested the correspondent of "Shehab" agency in the West Bank, journalist Amir Abdul-Halim Abu Arafa (31 years old) from his home in Hebron and detained him about four days, they also seized his computer and camera, and on 19th August the correspondent at Nativity local Amer Omar Hijazi, from Bethlehem, was threatened by a detective in the Palestinian police, Hijazi was also prosecuted following a complaint made against him because he shared a published video showing a group of people attacking a shop in Beit Jala town.
And on 20th August, Journalist and editor at "Alfajer Aljadeed TV" Sami Said Sai was threatened by a photographer in the colonization and wall resistance commission, because Sami expressed his opinion about an article in a status on his own Facebook page.
And on 26th August, the General Intelligence in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip summoned a journalist at Radio "People’s voice " Ahmed Said Abu Daqqa, from Khan Younis, after preparing and broadcasting a radio episode on Al-Aqsa hospital and a case of a young man who tried to commit suicide, after municipality staff attacked his street cart, while one of the Ministry of Health managers in the Gaza Strip detained freelance journalist Mohammed Ahmed Othman about a third of an hour, and prevented him from preparing a television report, which he had arranged in advance and in coordination with the ministry.
Details of violations:
(1/8)- Pal Media cameraman Ashraf Abu Shawish (37 years old) suffered severe suffocation and fainting after the Israeli occupation soldiers shot a gas bomb at him, while he was covering a march in the village of Duma in the Province of Nablus. Abu shawish reported to MADA: "We went at about five o'clock in the evening of 1/8 to Duma village in Nablus in order to cover the march condemning the burning of the child Ali Dawabsheh, and shortly after the march started at around 5 pm, the Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and gas bombs at the demonstrators. I covered these events from far away distance from the march, which was headed towards the entrance of the village, when soldiers fired a gas bomb that fell close to me, which led to my injury and severe suffocation and I lost consciousness fully, and did not wake up until I was moved to the village away from the smell of gas around at 6pm".
(1/8)- The flames emitted by a tear gas launcher injured the freelance photographer Ahmed Talat Hassan (22 years old) in his eye, while covering the march in the village of Duma that was suppressed by the IOF. Hassan reported to MADA: "while I was covering the march condemning the burning of the child Ali Dawabsheh, which was organized in the village on (1/8), the occupation army jeeps came and began firing sound and gas grenades at the demonstrators, and all who are in the place. And when the army started using Alrajmeh (a military machine that launches around 20 bombs at the same time) I was exposed the flames emitted by this tear gas launcher, which led to in the field and I later went to the clinic, and was examined by a specialized doctor and gave me the necessary treatment”.
(3/8)- the Israeli occupation police raided the office of the Media and public relations officer of the Islamic Awqaf, Firas Yousef Aldebs (30 years old). Aldebs reported to MADA: "Israeli police stormed my office at Bab Almajles in the occupied city of Jerusalem in order to arrest me, but security guards prevented them from the beginning, but they did not back down from the decision to arrest me, only after the intervention of the Jordanian Ambassador and the General Director General of the Islamic Awqaf”.
(4/8)- the Media and public relations officer of the Islamic Awqaf, Firas Yousef Aldebs was arrested by the Israeli occupation police, and his camera was seized, when he headed ( with his colleague Abdul kareem Darwish) to the police station, after the arrest of 5 colleagues, Aldebs reported to MADA: “I headed to Qishleh police station after the arrest of 5 guards of al-Aqsa mosque, After the clash, which took place between the mosque guards and one of the French people who raised the flag of Israel in Al-Aqsa, and while I was in front of the police station a policeman and a member of the intelligence came and treated me very bad, where my colleague Abdul Karim Darwish a cameraman at Al Bashir ProMedia and I were arrested, and they confiscated my photo camera and the video camera of my colleague, and they thoroughly searched us, and tried to force us to take off our clothes for the purposes of inspection, but we refused to do so. Then I was held for half an hour in the sun, and then I was detained inside the station standing on my legs for three hours”.
Aldebs added: “I was investigated over three different sessions on the same topic, my work at Awqaf, and why was I right in front of the police station, and why I carry a camera. In the last interrogation session they decided on my house-arrest until half past nine on Thursday morning 6th August, on the condition to visit the station at ten o'clock that day, I was then released at nine o'clock in the evening, with my camera was held at the station”.
(4/8)- And during the same incident "al-Bashir ProMedia" cameraman Abdul Karim Omar Darwish (23 years old) from Jerusalem was detained and interrogated, and his camera was seized as well. While he was covering the arrest of 5 security guards of Alaqsa Mosque. Darwish reported to MADA: “"I went to cover the arrest of a number of guards of Al Aqsa Mosque in Qishleh police center, and while I was conducting some interviews, the police came and asked me to enter the center (Qishleh center) where I found my colleague Firas Aldebs, I was interrogated about my reasons for filming and for which party I was filming, in spite of the absence of any signs indicating that photography was not allowed on that site, and that there is no law that prevents it. After about two hours of the investigation I was released with the detention of my video and my colleague Firas remained in custody”.
(4/8)- Israeli occupation police summoned freelance journalist Amjad Taher Arafa (34 years old) from Jerusalem, and seized his passport, and handed over a decision preventing him from traveling for three months. Arafa reported to MADA: “I was summoned on 4th august, to Almaskobya police station in Jerusalem, and when I asked about the reason I was called there, the policeman told me that I was banned from traveling for security reasons, and he interrogated me in this regard. Then he gave me (the policeman) a paper stating that I was banned from traveling for three months and that my passport was being held”.
(5/8)- the Preventive Security Service arrested freelance journalist and editor of the "Quds News Network" Yousef Abdul Latif Shalabi (25 years old) from Tulkarem, as he was leaving a friend's house, Shalabi reported to MADA: “"I was visiting a friend in the city of Tulkarem, and when I left at about 10 pm a civilian car intercepted my way I was arrested and taken to the headquarters of the PSS in Tulkarm, and there I was held in a cell without being charged with any thing, and without being interrogated except asking me some simple questions such as where did you go? Who were you with? And then they send me back to the same cell where I stayed there until 9 pm the next day 6th August, and then I was released”.
Shalabi added: “They claimed that my arrest was some security measures. I have been arrested by the same device on 5th July 2015 for a period of 12 days, the same way, I was charged with inciting sectarian strife, but without reference to any documents or evidence, and here I am waiting for the date of the court hearing that will be held on 6th October 2015, which was set after my 1st arrest”.
(5/8)- A women journalist at “Bawabet alhadaf” electronic newspaper in Gaza and board member of Radio "the People’s Voice " Mushera Tawfiq al-Haj (27 years old) for a comment she wrote on Facebook about a year ago harshly criticizing the performance of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, after the death of a child in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Al-Haj reported to MADA: “Since the beginning of the year, the public prosecutor summoned me twice (I do not recall the dates precisely), the first time I was told my summoned was based on a complaint from the Ministry of Health, specifically the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, and the prosecutor took my statement about the complaint of libel and defamation of the ministry, because of a post I wrote on Facebook after the death of the child Sewar Musamah as a result of a medical error. The second time, they re-investigated me through another public prosecutor, and gave me time to communicate with the ministry for a waiver of the complaint”.
Al-Haj added: “At the beginning of this week, my husband received a call from a private number and informed him that he should bring me to the headquarters of the public prosecutor across Al-Azhar University on Wednesday 5th August 2015. On that day we headed to the headquarters of the prosecution at about 10 o'clock, and I was interrogated by prosecutor Moanes Hamouda, he asked me if I had apologized to the ministry, and I told him that I refuse to apologize form the beginning and that the ministry “Wasta- relations with people in powerful positions” had failed them”.
She added: “"The prosecutor directing provocative questions to me, and he repeated the same questions I was asked during the first and second interrogation, I told him that I already answered all these questions, he told me: consider yourself arrested."
She added: "The duration of the investigation was minutes, I told him I want to call a lawyer, he told me to make the call from his office, and immediately I was transferred to the Ansar jail center without any charges against me, my husband was with me through the rapid investigation, and in Ansar prison they took my personal items and my mobile and I was searched, and I was detained with other women charged with theft, and women suspected of treason, and later arrived a delegation from the Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights Center and journalists, that’s when I was transferred to the headquarters of the Attorney General”.
She added: “the Attorney General told me that I misbehaved, I told him I am a mother and I have a daughter, and wrote under the influence of humanitarianism, and even if used strong words, I shouldn’t have been searched in this way, or placed with these women's in detention on criminal backgrounds. He asked me what is the solution: I told him that the solution lies in opening an investigation in the death of the Sewar Musamah, which is the main subject here, and I again refused to apologize and the file was closed, I was released, with reference to that I wrote a clarification that I wrote about a killing and It is natural to be emotional in my writing”.
(7/8)- the Israeli occupation forces refused to grant member of the General Secretariat of the Journalists’ Syndicate and director of "Klaket" Foundation journalist Omar Naji Nazzal (58 years old) him a permit to enter Jerusalem for treatment. Nazzal reported to MADA: “I tried to get permission to enter Israel where I need surgery in the French hospital in Jerusalem, but the Israeli Civil Administration did not agree for security reasons, and despite the fact that my request for an entry permit to Jerusalem was supported by medical examinations and medical transfer from the hospital to prove my need for an operation, but they still refused to grant me an entry permit for treatment. Note that the occupation prevents me from traveling abroad also since the month of December / 2014.”
(13/8)- The occupation intelligence prevented Secretary of the Administrative Board of the journalists’ Syndicate Abed Alkareen Hussein Abu Arqoub (52 years old); he is also a journalist at Amjad magazine, from traveling abroad through the Allenby Bridge crossing. Arqoub reported to MADA: “"I went on Thursday evening to the Allenby crossing boarder in order to travel, and after it reached the Israeli side and handed over my passport, they detained it, and after about an hour and a half brought it back to me and told me that I was banned from traveling, the decision was made by the Israeli intelligence without subjecting me to any investigation or interrogation, note that I have traveled abroad through this crossing border before only two weeks”.
(14/8)- Two members of the Gaza media mission (sports commentator and a journalist) assaulted and beaten the editor and cameraman at "Pal Media" Yousef Issa Shaheen (26 years old), when he asked one of them for an interview at the end of a sports match organized in Hebron. Shaheen reported to MADA:
"After the end of the final football match of the Palestine Cup League match between the Ahli team in Hebron “west bank” and the Shajaya team from Gaza Strip, I tried to interview the sports commentator from the media mission from Gaza Hisham Muammar, but he was beyond impolite with me, and he pushed me and my camera and refused to conduct the interview, and when I asked him not to push me and there was no need for that, the photojournalist from the same mission Mohammed Aldalo came, and they both attacked me, and beat me on my head and on my face, which led to my injury and bleeding from my face, I lost consciousness because of it and did not wake up until I was in the Ahli Hospital in Hebron".
Shahin added "in the hospital the examination showed that I got a concussion in addition to the wounds in the upper lip, I got 6 stitches in my lip from the inside. I stayed in the hospital under observation for 24 hours, until Saturday morning”.
(15/8)- the Palestinian intelligence prevented Al Quds TV correspondent in Nablus Musab Fathi al-Khatib (31 years old) from covering the march organized in the city and seized his cellphone and deleted what he had filmed, after he was summoned to the intelligence headquarters in the city. Al-khatib reported to MADA: “At about 12 pm on 15th August I was at the city center of Nablus in order to cover the march there organized by the families of political prisoners, and at about the end of the march, security agents fired live ammunition in the air, and when I was trying to document that with my mobile, I was attacked by a group of Security members, and they captured me and took my cellphone by force, and they detained me near the march for 10 minutes. After that they returned to me my identity and confiscated my cellphone and the TV microphone and asked me to check in with the intelligence headquarters in the city in order to restore what has been confiscated”.
al-Khatib added: "I went the next morning (16/8) at about 10 am, accompanied by my colleague Rima Alamla, a member of the journalists' Syndicate, to the headquarters of the intelligence center, and there we were met by the officer in charge, and I turned on my mobile, and the deleted the filmed material upon their request, and got back what had been confiscated and left”.
(16/8)- Jewish extremists attacked Palestinian Public TV correspondent Christine Rinawi (26 years old) and a number of other journalists, while covering the developments in the case of prisoner Mohammed Allan health deterioration, in front of "Barazillai" hospital in Askalan. Rinawi reported to MADA: “on the afternoon of the 16th and for the 3rd day in a row I was in front of Barazillai hospital, in order to cover and follow up the Palestinian prisoner health condition, Mohamed Alian after a 2month hunger strike. in the same place there was Israeli settlers from Ashkelon, most of whom are part of the Israeli extreme right parties, where they were cursing and verbally abusive to all those present, (from among those who have been exposed to their insults Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi, and the doctor who was with him), as they were cursing the demonstrators in front of the hospital in support of the prisoner Alian and deliberately insulting the Prophet Muhammad”.
Rinawi added: "after finishing the live coverage of what was going on there, all press crews moved to one yard, we were followed by settlers, and there was the attack on the broadcasting car Palestine TV, where settlers kicked the press crew feet strongly, also a settler threw a stone on the front window while I was sitting there deliberately trying to hurt me, what led to smashing the it glass and splashed on us, "asserting that" all of these attacks accrued with the presence of Israeli police forces which constituted protection for settlers against us”.
(17/8)- the Israeli occupation soldiers prevented Nativity local TV correspondent in Bethlehem Amer Omar Hijazi (27 years old) from covering the settlement leveling operations in Beit Jala town, they tied him up and detained him, Hijazi reported to MADA: “on 17th I was at / Bear Odeh / area in the town of Beit Jala, which is threatened with confiscation of lands in order to complete the construction of the aparthied wall in order to separate Beit Jala from the city of Jerusalem, there were five patrols in addition to border control soldiers, and four bulldozers that demolished about four dunums of land planted with olive trees, which dates back to the Roman era. I stood on a wall near the area to film, when an officer came and ordered me to come down, but I did not respond so he dragged me down from the wall and strongly handcuffed me, and threw me in the jeep, and then another officer came and photographed my identity and then I was released”.
(17/8)- The Palestinian Preventive Security Service arrested the correspondent of "Shehab" news agency in the West Bank, journalist Amir Abdul-Halim Abu Arafa (31 years old) from his home in Hebron and detained him about four days, they also seized his computer and camera. Abu Arafa reported to MADA: “the Preventive Security force stormed our house in the city of Hebron at ten o'clock in the evening (Mon 17/8) without official permission and they searched the house and confiscated my computer and camera type / Canon / and took me to the headquarters of the device”.
“ I was investigated at about half past twelve o'clock midnight, I was interrogated about my work at the agency Shehab and the nature of my work, and where do I get my news from, the investigator accused of insulting the authority after I commented on a published Post by the agency "Maan" a year ago titled / the Palestinian cabinet meeting / because I commented on the word / cabinet / (the Israelis use the term Alkabint to refer the mini Ministry Council) I told them that I have denounced what was written, and I did not agree with it, and if there is an objection from your side it should be on the agency "Maan" and not on my writing”.
He added: “I was investigated for about an hour and stayed in the cell until I was released on Friday, despite the fact that the decision to release me was ordered on Wednesday on bail of 500 Jordanian, but release procedures were finalized Thursday”.
“On Friday evening I received a threat on Facebook from an anonymous account that was suspended later, the threat / still.. this is nothing, wait what is coming journalist”.
(17/8- The Israeli occupation intelligence canceled a permit they granted to Palestine TV cameraman Khaled Jamal Kamel Bulbul to travel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, he was interrogated then sent back from "Ayers" barrier to Gaza. Bulbul reported to MADA: “
on Monday and Tuesday (17 and 18 of August 2015) I was informed by the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Israeli military liaison (they called me), that I received a permit to travel to the West Bank on Wednesday, 19/8, and so I headed at about eight o'clock on Tuesday morning ( 18/8) to Beit Hanoun / Erez / crossing border, and when I reached the Israeli soldier who delivers the permits, he asked me for my identity card and passport, and I gave them to him, and when they handed me the permit, he asked me to wait. I waited for more than two hours and a half. Then came two people in civilian clothes, and asked me to accompany them, and they asked me: Are you Khaled Bulbul? I said yes, and then someone asked me that if I knew Hebrew, so I said no”.
He added: “they took my mobile and watch and all metallic materials, and asked me to take off the shirt and shoes, and then open my pants buttons and pull it down, and they searched me for about 20 minutes, and then they asked me to bring my bag, and they took it to a warehouse type of room, and then they took me through a basement under the earth to another place inside the terminal, and I was detained in a room for about an hour, then they took me to meet an intelligence officer”.
Bulbol added: “I meet the Intelligence officer for about 20 minutes, and he asked me: Why types of information do you have? Tell me, you have hidden things? And why are you traveling? And where are you traveling to? And I felt that there were no serious questions, and there are no charges against me. After the interview I was taken back again by the two individuals, and they gave me my identity and my passport and my statement and my stuff, and asked me to return to Gaza, and that was at about 12pm”.
(18/8)- The Israeli occupation police beat "Q Press” agency photojournalist Abdul Afou Bassam Zoughair, where two members of the Israeli border guards took him to the police station in the Old City of Jerusalem. Zoughair reported to MADA: “While I was in the Old City of Jerusalem, and specifically at Alselsela door, I had my cameras for routine photography, I was stopped by two soldiers from the Israeli border guards and they asked me for my identity card, and after a discussion between us they took me to the police station and there they searched me and assaulted me by beating me (punched with hands and legs) and then they returned my identity card and they let me go without any interrogation or investigation”.
(18/8)- The Israeli occupation police arrested freelance journalist Samer Hussam Abu Aisha (29 years old) owner of "Haifa Art Production" he also works on production and directing deocumentry films, and they confiscated a number of his personal devices, after they raided and searched his home in Jerusalem. His wife Rawan reported to MADA: “Occupation force stormed the house in the Wadi Al Joz neighborhood in Jerusalem on 18/8 and arrested Samer after they searched the house and the confiscation of private devices such as 2 of Samer’s computers, a photography camera, 3 flashes, and 2 external hard disks”.
Rawan Abo Ghosh pointed out that “they extended Samer’s detention three times, each time about 4 days, (most recently was on 01.09.2015 his detention was extended for five days), and there is no charges brought against him so far, He is now in the Russian Compound prison Almaskobya and we are waiting for a court appointment scheduled on Sunday 6th September”.
(19/8)- The correspondent at Nativity local TV Amer Omar Hijazi (27 years old), from Bethlehem, was threatened by a detective in the Palestinian police (Hazem Khalef), Hijazi was also prosecuted following a complaint made against him by a citizen (Naji Khalef) and his wife, because he shared a published video showing a group of people attacking a shop in Beit Sahour town (Naji is Hazem’s uncle). Hijazi reported to MADA: “on Wednesday 19th August I shared a video on Nativity TV facebook page showing an attack and destruction of a group of people (including a women) of a store in Beit Sahour, I shared it from a friends facebook page Mahera Aljamal, who is an employee at the youth and sport ministry. During that day at 11pm I received a phone call from a man, who introduced himself as Abu Khalef, and he asked me about the source of the video, and he threatened me saying I will show you in the detectives’ device”.
Hijazi added: “my boss headed to abu Khlef’s house at 12pm in order to keep things under control and calm, but they have already filed a complaint at the Bethlehem police station charging me with libel and defamation. I headed to the police station on Thursday 20th August and gave my statement, yet the director of the police station asked me with what right did you share the video? Which confused me, my identity was detained and I was released on bail from my boss, on the condition that I return the police station on Sunday 23rd August at 8am to head to the public prosecutor”.
Hijazi added: “on Sunday my file was transferred to the public prosecutor in the Bethlehem court, and after hearing both parties in the dispute, the court date was postponed until 12th October”.
(20/8)- On 20th August, Journalist and editor at "Alfajer Aljadeed TV" Sami Said Sai (36 years old) was threatened by a photographer in the colonization and wall resistance commission, because Sami expressed his opinion about an article in a status on his own Facebook page. Sami reported to MADA: “at 9:30pm on 20th August I received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Zaher Abu Hussein, who works as a photographer in the colonization and wall resistance commission, from a mobile number” the number is saved”, he asked me if I was Sami Sai, and I said yes, he then asked me to recorded this phone call, and he started to threaten me and accuse me of treason with Israeli occupation, and that I am involved in unethical cases such as Molesting girls on public transport, and he told me that I would be targeted and that my file is in his possession and that he will reveal it all soon”.
Sami added: “I went after this call to Tulkarm police and filed a formal complaint in writing about this threat, also made a similar complaint to the Journalists' Syndicate attached to the call recorded, another complaint to the Human Rights Commission, in addition to that I went also to the Office of the Attorney General in the city of Ramallah for the same complaint, as I said this threat poses a threat to my personal safety and bad for my reputation”.
Sami explained that “threatening me was on the background of my critical writings of the performance of the PA and Palestinian security in general, and specifically after I posted a status on Facebook inspired by comments published alluding to his “Zaher’s” work as a delegate/representative of the Palestinian security services, where I wrote on my page / Why do some people get upset for being called a representative or delegate, I am also working as the representative for Sai drinks/, this man has threatened me by a phone call a year ago”.
(21/8)- The Israeli occupation soldiers on 21st August arrested freelance photojournalist Bilal Hassan Tamimi (49 years old), from Nabi Saleh village, Ramallah province, while covering a demonstration in the village, Tamimi reported to MADA: “while I was covering the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh on 21st, where I was with the official spokesman for B'Tselem, "Siirt" and Israeli solidarity activist David in a mountainous area near the village, Israeli occupation soldiers approached us and ordered us to leave on the pretext that it is a closed military area, but they refused to show us the military judicial order that it is a closed military zone, and they started to push us and yell at us with force, Then an officer came and asked the soldiers to arrest me, where they took me to a far distance of 500 m from the mountain, and a military jeep came and took me to the center of Benjamin near the village of Jaba (south of Ramallah). It was about 3pm, and I remained in detention until 9pm, when the officer came and interrogated me and directed 3 charges against me: one that I was in a closed military zone, two resisting the soldiers while resisting arrest, and three throwing the gas and sound bombs at the soldiers, and I denied all three charges”.
Tamimi added: “at around 2am I was transferred to offer prison, and I stayed in detention until Sunday at court, where I was release at 1pm that Sunday 23rd August, after a Spanish activist showed a film denying all the charges against me”.
(24/8)- On 24th August the Israeli occupation forces refused permits for 28 journalists from the Gaza Strip to travel to the West Bank, and prevented their participation in an annual conference organized by the Media Development Center at the University of Birzeit, on a number of media issues.
Alhayat newspaper correspondent and a consultant at the Media development center of Birzeit University, Fathi Sabah reported to MADA: “In the framework of the arrangements for holding of the annual conference of Media Development Initiative in Palestine, the center informed all journalists, media professionals, and academics who wish to participate in the conference, to inform the Centre in Gaza, and to provide the center a photo copy of his I.D to arrange the process of obtaining permits to travel to the West Bank to participate in the conference”.
Sabah added: “candidates for participation number reached 48, which included 28 journalists, and some from civil society organizations and academics, and they all received official invitation letters. And on 12th August, We provided the Ministry of Civil Affairs with two lists of participants with supporting documents (the invitations and photocopies of their I.Ds), the 1st list included 43 names for the period of 25-27th August, which included 10 academics, 5 from civil society organizations, 5 lawyers, and the rest were journalists, the 2nd name list included 5 names for the period of 25- 30th August, as requesting a longer stay in the West Bank”.
Sabah clarified in his statement that: “We were informed by the Ministry of Interior that the list of the 43 names was completely rejected, and the list of five names have only 3 names approved, and they are colleagues Zakaria Altalmas, and Mona Khader, and Ashraf Alhore, while refusing to allow both: dr. Tahsin Alastal "Vice-captain of the journalists’ Syndicate”, and d. Nabil Altahrawi “lecturer at Al-Aqsa University / Faculty of media”.
D. Tahsin Alastal reported to MADA that he received the invitation from Birzeit University to participate in the conference, and that his name was included in the 2nd list for a 5 day stay, but he was denied permit. Alastal added: “I received another invitation from the Centre for Palestine Studies in the same week; but I was refused permission to travel”.
(26/8)- The Police General Intelligence in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip summoned a journalist at Radio "People’s voice " Ahmed Said Abu Daqqa, from Khan Younis, after preparing and broadcasting a radio episode on Al-Aqsa hospital and a case of a young man who tried to commit suicide, after municipality staff attacked his street cart, Daqqa reported to MADA: “ at 7pm Sunday 26th August, I received a summon to the house requires me to head to the General Intelligence headquarters in Deir al-Balah immediately, no reason were identified in the summon for this request, note that the summon came after a radio episode I prepared and was broadcasted about Al-Aqsa hospital and a case of a young man who tried to commit suicide, after municipality staff attacked his street cart”.
Daqqa added: “I didn’t go, and I informed the radio station about the summoning, and the station solved the issue by making some phone calls”.
(27/8)- The Israeli occupation forces informed the Palestinian military liaison that it intends to stop the broadcast of the "Alreef" radio station, which broadcasts from the city of Dura in Hebron governorate, under the pretext of interference with Israeli military radio and Ben Gurion Airport.
Alreef general director Mahmoud Yassin Diab reported to MADA: “we were informed by Hebron Police Directorate and the Palestinian military liaison, and based on a complaint from the Israeli side that the Israeli occupation army intends to shut down the radio station, which broadcasts from Dura or they will raid it because it is disturbing the Ben-Gurion Airport, and Israeli military radio, we were informed that we have to stop the radio broadcast during the week. Otherwise, the Israeli army will raid the station”.
He pointed that Alreef radio station began operating in Dura since 2007, And it is committed to all licenses from all official Palestinian bodies attributing that the "real reason" for the decision of the occupation is "our attention and concern for Palestinian affairs within the Green Line and in Gaza” and he stated that: “three months before the complaint I received a call from Israeli intelligence and there they interrogated about the radio broadcast for the Nakab area, and they tried to offer me materialistic temptations in return of /stopping inciting an end of Palestinian violence against Israelis there/” ”.
(26/8)- The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem had fined Palestinian Public TV cameraman Ali Sami (23 years old) and "Russia Today" TV cameraman Mohamed Shukri Esho (30 years old), the fine was a request from the Occupation police, on the pretext that the journalists were obstructing the movement, while they were covering the occupation police preventing the Palestinian worshipers from entering al-Aqsa mosque.
Yassin reported to MADA that: “My colleague Shukri and I, were at Alselsela door on 26th August, which leads to Alaqsa Mosque, in order to cover the occupation police preventing the Palestinian worshipers from entering al-Aqsa mosque for the 3rd day in a row. The Israeli police shut down the entire place, and suddenly a police officer came and asked us to hand over the personal identities to give to a municipal employee, who fined us for obstructing the movement, because of our media coverage”.
Yassin added: “the fine was 475 New Israeli shekel (approximately 121 USD), for each one of us, noting that we were given 15 days to pay it”
Yassin explained that they reach a settlement with the municipality, after the intervention of the municipality media department, and the Hebrew media, for the abolition of the fines because the police are the ones required to issue the fine not the municipality, and because we were doing our job as journalists and therefore we may not be fined”.
(28/8)-Freelance photographer Mohammed Basman Yassin (21 years old) was injured by a rubber bullet in his leg, fired at him by an Israeli soldier while covering a march in Bil'in village west of Ramallah, Yassin reported to MADA: “I was covering the weekly demonstration in Bil’in on 28th, and while I was waiting for the march to end, And while the Israeli army was setting up an ambush for the demonstrators where soldiers suddenly appeared from inside a hole, I ran away and moved away quickly from the place fearing of getting an injury again where I am suffering from a previous injury (some fragments remain stable in my lever and my kidney is wounded), but soldiers shot at me resulting in my injury with a rubber bullet in my left leg, and I was wounded in the right leg and dislocated my right shoulder, I have received the necessary treatment in Ramallah Hospital”.
(28/8)- During the march in Bil'in village, the Israeli soldiers detained volunteer photographer in the Israeli human rights organization "B'Tselem" Hamza Suleiman Yaseen- Bernat (23 years old), after they beat him and smashed his camera, while he was covering the weekly demonstration, Hamza reported to MADA: “I was documenting the demonstration with my personal camera, and after the Israeli soldier came out of their holes set as ambush for demonstrators, they arrested my cousin Iyad Yassin (42 years old) and started beating him up with their hands and legs and with iron sticks, during which I was covering what is going on, they started firing sound grenades at me so I withdrew to the back, that’s when the officer ordered my arrest and the soldiers beat me on my face and kicked me with their feet, and they deleted images that I took and broke the memory, and smashed the camera entirely”.
He added: “my cousin and I were transferred to a Benyamin police center, where we stayed until 12am, until we were released, we then called an ambulance and meet in Jaba where we were transferred to Ramallah hospital for treatment”.
(29/8)- The Israeli occupation intelligence prevented "Al Jazeera Net" correspondent Awad Ibrahim Rajoub (39 years old) from traveling to Qatar, and he was sent back to the West Bank from the Allenby bridge crossing, Rajoub reported to MADA: “ I was traveling through the Karama (Allenby) bridge on 29th to Qatar to work for 2 months from the headquarters of Aljazeera, and after I handed over my passport to the Israelis on the bridge, they told me after about two hours of waiting that I was banned from traveling, and if I wanted to know why they prevented me from traveling I had to check with the Israeli intelligence and the Israeli liaison, and it turned out after I checked that I was banned from traveling for security reasons, up until 24th October 2015”.
(30/8)- Israeli soldiers beat and fired gas and sound bombs towards at least 7 journalists who were covering a march on that Wednesday afternoon against completing the construction of the Apartheid Wall in Beit Jala town. Pal Media cameraman Abed Alghani Mohamed Alnatshe (33 years old) reported to MADA: “They prevented me from coverage and pushed me more than once to go away from the place, and I was threatened with arrest by some soldiers”.
Alnatshe added: “I was hit with three stun grenades in my foot fired by soldiers toward us, in addition to them firing gas bombs of a new large sized type full of a concentrated gas that settles in the air, which led to my suffocation even though I was wearing a protective mask, a half an hour passed, during which I could not speak until I received treatment in an ambulance in the field”.
AlQuds TV correspondent Mamdouh Mahmoud Hamamreh (31 years old” reported to MADA: “Most of the journalists who were covering the march in Beit Jala were subjected to attacks by the Israeli army, after the repression of the demonstrators participating in the march and scattering them, where we the journalists were threatened if we did not leave the area, as I and others suffocated due to soldiers firing stun grenades and gas at us”.
The correspondent of Alquds.com and radio Albalad Abed Alrahman Younis (28 years old) reported to MADA: “I was pushed and threatened by a soldier who prevented us the journalists from boarding a hill close to the place”.
A cameraman at the Japanese TV and French press agency Mousa Ahmed Alshaer (56 years old) reported to MADA: “they prevented us from being in the place by pushing us and targeting us with stun grenades, where I was hit by a sound bomb in my left foot, but the effects were minor and did not need medical treatment”.
Alshaer explained: “those journalists who were present in the area for coverage and were subjected to threats and being pushed, and suffocated due to the gas are: photojournalist Mousa Qawasmi a Reuters cameraman, Yousef Issa Shahin, a cameraman and editor in Palmedia company (26 years), and the photographer Nasser Shyoukhi AP - Associated Press”.
(31/8)- One of the Ministry of Health managers in the Gaza Strip detained freelance journalist Mohammed Ahmed Othman about a third of an hour, and prevented him from preparing a television report, which he had arranged in advance and in coordination with the ministry.
Othman reported to MADA: “about 10 days in advance, I got an appointment with one of the Ministry of Health departments’ managers at 1 pm to complete the television report, and when I went and we started filming, minutes after he told me I was forbidden to deal with the Ministry of Health, and to bring a paper from the TV where I work in order to let me complete my report”.
Othman explained: “on Wednesday 26th August, my wife who is my partner in preparing this report, got a 2 page paper in order to complete 2 TV reports from 2 Doctors from the ministry, accordingly, I made the first meeting with the doctor who prevented me in the beginning from completing my report on Sunday (30/8), and I went to the second meeting on Monday (31/8) morning. The crew accompanying me went to prepare for filming at the office of the ministry's spokesman on this day (31/8), and when he knew that I was in charge for the report, he told them, / Mohamed Othman is forbidden to deal with us / and circulated this order to all directors present in the building. Then came a managers and questioned the paper I got from the TV where I work, and he told me it’s a fraud, they detained me and the crew in his office for a period of one-third of an hour, until the ministry spokesman was informed about this paper, and after they made sure that the paper is not forged they let us go, but we have not been able to complete the second TV report”.
.png)
