The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly
condemns the Israeli occupation forces attack on Reuters photographer Abdul
Rahim Quseini, and on the AFP photographer Arif Tufaha, On Saturday 7
November 2009, in the village of Oraq Burin, in south of Nablus (West
Bank).
 
Quseini said that he went to Oraq Burin village at about 4:00 pm, when he
heard that there were clashes between settlers and Palestinian youths. And
when he was filming the clashes, some of the soldiers attacked him and
tried to take his camera by force. But he resisted them and told them:
“it’s my right to cver the event, and the law protects me". Then the
soldiers hit him on his hand and walked away.

Alquseini added: “when Tufaha was filming the attack, the soldiers noticed
him. And three of them fixed him on a wall, and took his camera and tried
forcibly to eject the tape. But the journalists shouted at them and
threatened to lodge a complaint against them, so the soldiers threw the
camera and fired tear gas grenades inside Reuters car, which broke its side
glass.
MADA considers this harassment and the repeated attacks carried out by
Israeli occupying forces against journalists, a rude violation of freedom
of expression, and a clear violation of international laws and norms
related to freedom of expression. MADA also calls to punish everyone who
attacks journalists’, whom seek to spread the truth.