Ramallah – 9th March 2023 The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms “MADA” congratulates all Palestinian women and all women around the world, and female journalists in particular, on the occasion of “International Women’s Day”, on the 8th of March. It further praises them on the successes they have achieved in various fields, and at all levels. Media women have a clear imprint on the Palestinian media arena, despite the practices of the Israeli occupation and the social obstacles they still face.
Female journalists in Palestine are still exposed to assaults and numerous attempts aimed at silencing them and limiting their ability to express. During the past years, MADA has documented disturbing patterns of violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces, or by various Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where the violations, during 2022, have affected a total of 42 female journalists while practicing their media work, the most prominent of which was the martyrdom of the two journalists, SHERINE ABU ALEH, and GHOFRAN WARASNAH.
On International Women's Day, MADA expresses its pride in the Palestinian female journalists who continue to reflect a role model in carrying out their professional duties, and their insistence on spreading the suffering of their people under occupation and siege with word and image, and their great efforts to reflect the reality of Palestinian women and the rest of the issues that concerns the Palestinian society despite all the difficulties, obstacles, and oppression.
MADA, while extending its congratulations to the women of Palestine and the world, especially female journalists, denounces all attacks against them, and calls on all concerned and responsible parties to protect female journalists and enable them to work in full freedom, and to hold all those responsible for all attacks against them accountable, and also calls for an end to discrimination against female journalists, and to enable them to access leadership positions within the media.
