Ramallah - 16/8/2011
Israeli Occupation Forces Violations
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed numerous violations against journalists during July 2011, particularly while journalists were covering the peaceful weekly marches and activities regularly hosted in several locations across the West Bank.
IOF personnel threw a tear gas grenade between the legs of Associated Press photographer Hazem Bader while he was covering a solidarity event in the town of Al-Toana, south of Hebron on 7 July 2011. In a similar incident, IOF personnel threw a tear gas grenade directly at journalist Haitham Khatib while reporting at the weekly Bil’in march against the wall on 22 July 2011. And in Nabi Saleh, Al-Hayat Al-Jadedeh newspaper photographer Moheeb Barghouti was left bleeding on the ground for 4 hours in the sun after being severely beaten by Israeli Occupation Forces while covering the weekly march against nearby settlement expansion, on 28 July 2011.
In another incident, the IOF barred the journalist Mustafa Sabri from travelling through the Al-Karama border terminal to Jordan on Friday 8 June 2011. Additionally, Al-Quds TV programme coordinator, Nawaf Al-Amer was sentenced to administrative detention on 5 July 2011. Israeli administrative detentions mandates allow for the arrest and imprisonment of an individual without informing the defendant of the charge/s laid against them, most detention orders are three or six months in length but can be renewed indefinitely by the Israeli military authorities.
In a relatively rare incident of humiliation, security guards at the Israeli PM’s offices in Jerusalem on Friday requested three female journalists undress and remove their bras before being allowed entry. In two separate incidences the journalists were taken behind curtains, patted down and told to undress. Their clothes and personal items were then passed through X-ray scanners in full view of female and male security personnel before being allowed to dress and enter the offices of the Prime Minister.
On 11 July 2011 The Israeli Knesset approved a new draft law prohibiting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The legislation makes any calls for the academic, cultural or economic boycott of Israel a civil offence, and is applicable to the occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza as well as Israel proper. This new law further limits freedom of expression, opinion and assembly in the region and stands in direct contravention to articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). MADA fears that with the implementation of this legislation, the oPt will see a steep rise in the number of violations committed against journalists and a further suppression of Palestinian voices and peaceful social movements, both within Israel and without.
Palestinian Security Service Violations
Despite recent reductions in Palestinian security service perpetrated violations, July saw
two violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including the attempted arson of Ma’an news agency headquarters in Gaza City by unknown persons on 10 July 2011, and the repeated summons of Al- Aqsa TV cameraman Osaid Amarneh to the Preventative Security Service headquarters in Bethlehem, for purposes of interrogation between the 17th and 21st of July by security personnel.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns all attacks against Palestinian journalists, and calls upon official international and human rights bodies to take real measures towards pressuring Israeli forces to end all violations. MADA also demands the anti-boycott law be rescinded, and the Knesset take steps to ensure all legislation is in line with the standards and conventions of international human rights law. In addition, MADA welcomes the significant reduction in the perpetration of violations and abuses by Palestinian security services, but wishes to stress the necessity for an end to all violations and demand the respect of media freedoms.
Details of the violations
05.07.2011 Al-Quds TV program coordinator, Nawaf Al-Amer was arrested from his home in the town of Kafr Kalel, southeast Nablus, on the 28th of June 2011, and on the 5th of July was sentenced to administrative detention by Israeli military personnel on Tuesday 05.07.2011.
08.07.2011 IOF barred journalist Mustafa Sabri from travelling through the Al-Karama/Allenby border terminal to Jordan on Friday 8 June 2011. According to Sabri, he presented his papers at Israeli border control at 8 am and was told by the guard on duty to wait. After approximately 3 hours of waiting Sabri was approached by a border official who informed him that he was barred from travelling for "security reasons". Sabri was offered no further explanation as to why the ban was in place, and added: "I will not be silenced and I will continue to defend my right to travel."
09.07.2011 Israeli Occupation Forces attacked Associated Press photographer Hazem Bader while covering a solidarity event with the people of Al-Toana village, south of Hebron on Tuesday 9th of June 2011. Bader went to the town of Al-Toana to cover a land reclamation event in solidarity with the residents of Al-Toana village, whose lands are threatened with confiscation due to the expansion of nearby illegal settlements. A group of international and Israelis activists gathered to assist village farmers clean and care for the land currently under threat. Bader was covering the day’s activities when an Israeli border guard threw a concussion grenade between his legs, causing moderate contusions and burns on both his legs.
10.07.2011 Unknown persons attempted an arson attack on Ma’an news agency headquarters on Sunday 10th July. Ma’an’s Gaza correspondent, Ibrahim Mohammed Khalil, told MADA that he had received a call that morning from a colleague in the office next door informing him that there were burn marks on Ma’an’s main entrance door. When Khalil went to the office at approximately 7.30 am he found a large portion of the door had been burned and saw a plastic bottle with burning material inside.
Khalil added: “The building’s security guard made the discovery at 5:00 am but didn’t want to disturb us so early. We were lucky there is no flammable material near the main door". When asked of the possible reason for this attempted arson, Khalil said "the agency has not received any objections concerning any of the published articles and has not received threats in a long time, so we are very surprised. This was completely unexpected."
17.07.2011 Al-Aqsa TV cameraman Osaid Amarneh was summoned for investigation by Palestinian Security services on Saturday 17 July 2011. Amarneh stated that members of security services came to his home on Saturday the 16th of July and presented him with a notification of summons to appear before security service headquarters at 9 am the following day. Amarneh arrived as requested and was left to wait until midday, when investigators began the interrogation. Attending security personnel asked him about his colleagues and his work, in particular his latest broadcast.
Amarneh said “the investigator used a threatening tone and ordered me to send my reports to them for prior approval before broadcasting them if I wanted to stay out of trouble. I refused, stating that as a journalist what they were requesting was against the law; he replied: ‘I'll give you a couple of days and then I'll call you’".
20.07.2011 Preventive Security services in Bethlehem detained Al Aqsa TV cameraman Osaid Amarneh while he was filming a report in Dheisheh camp for a German TV channel on Wednesday 20 July 2011. He reported that members of the Preventive Security detained him for approximately an hour and a half and then asked him to present himself at security headquarters the following day. Amarneh waited until 2 pm for the commencement of the investigation, where security personnel again asked him to send all of his press materials for prior approval before broadcast, “I reminded them that I am a journalists and a member of the journalists syndicate, and that if they wanted to proceed legally they should contact the syndicate. The officer told me ‘I'm not talking with the union, I'm talking to you’ and took my mobile phone number. Up until now he hasn’t called me."
22.07.2011 Israeli Occupation Forces threw a tear gas projectile at journalist Haitham Khatib while he was covering the weekly march in the village of Bilin, near Ramallah, on Friday 22 July 2011. According to Khatib, soldiers began throwing tear gas grenades at protesters participating in the march at random; one struck him and caused injuries on his right foot.
28.07.2011 Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and severely beat Al-Hayat Al-Jadedeh newspaper photographer Moheeb Barghouti while covering the weekly march against the settlement expansion in the village of Nabi Saleh on Friday 28 July 2011. Barghouti was standing at the entrance to the village preparing to cover the march when soldiers approached and requested his identity card and camera. Barghouti told them he is a journalist and therefor they do not have the right to handle his camera, the soldiers responded by smashing his camera and began beating him severely: "it did not stop there; five soldiers beat me with their guns and detained me in a military vehicle. Later they threw me to the ground in handcuffs in an isolated area far from the village, one of them then began kicking my face and body causing severe bleeding on the left side of my head. I was left lying on the ground bleeding for four hours before an ambulance took me to hospital where I stayed for two days to receive the necessary treatment."
