MADA: 593 violations against photojournalists 2012-mid 2015
Ramallah-1/10/2015: The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) released yesterday a special report entitled “When the Camera exposes the Rifle”; about violations against photographers and cameramen in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the last three years (from 2012 until mid-2015).
The report that is supported by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) included numerous tables and charts that show the types of violations, the locations, and the perpetrators.
The report monitored 593 violations against the photojournalists during the period between 2012 until mid-2015. The majority of these violations were committed by the Israeli occupation (469 assaults) that equals 79% of the total violations, whereas the Palestinian sides committed 124 violations; which equals 21% of the total violations.
There is no doubt that the most dangerous assault was the killing of 7 photographers and cameramen by the IOF besides the killing of Palestine Public TV cameraman in Gaza Strip Kamal Abu Nahel in mysterious conditions; even though Palestinian official sides in Gaza said that he died due to health issues.
According to the report, the Israeli violations have increased during the last 3 years by 154% (increased from 85 assaults in 2012 to 216 in 2014), whereas the Palestinian violations increased by 130% (increased from 20 violations in 2012 to 46 in 2014).
The Israeli violations came in 14 dangerous types and the majority of them are considered highly dangerous; where the number of the direct physical assaults against photojournalists was 283 violations (equals 60% of the whole Israeli violations).
The Israeli violations against photographers and cameramen in Gaza reached 45 violations, 37 of them are physical assaults and killing; which shows the violence against journalists In Gaza Strip even though the violations number is somehow limited. Besides, these violations were committed in a short period during the military attacks on the Strip in the years of 2012 and 2014.
This report which is one of a series of special reports prepared by MADA, shows that the photographers and cameramen in the West Bank are subjected to dangerous violations as same as their colleagues in Gaza Strip.
The report also shows that the majority of the Israeli violations committed during the last 3 and half years, were in the West Bank (424 violations out of 469); which equals 90%.
Regarding the Palestinian violations, (124 assaults in total), 81 violations were committed in the West Bank (65%) and 43 in the Gaza Strip (35%). The report shows 4 types of violations committed by Palestinian sides; detention, interrogation and arrests are the majority (36 violations and equals 29%), followed by physical assaults (35 violations and equals 28%, including the killing of Abu Nahel), and followed by prevention from coverage (27 violations, equals 22%) and last, destroying equipment and deletion of material (21 violations, equals 17%).
One of the main reasons behind assaulting photographers and cameramen by the Palestinian security forces in West Bank and Gaza Strip is that they do not want the journalists to cover events such as demonstrations and sit-ins against political arrest after the internal division in 15/6/2007. It also shows that some of these violations were committed due to events happened in Egypt after the removal of the president Mohammad Morsi.
MADA expressed the appreciation for the photojournalists in Palestine; who suffered a lot, and who many of them were killed and severely injured while conducting their duties with high professionalism, clearly shown since many of them won international and regional awards. MADA reaffirms the urge to stop violations against them and to hold the responsible accountable, especially those who have committed killing crimes.
To read full report:
https://www.madacenter.org/files/image/editor/photospecialrepE.pdf
