Ramallah – 19^th December 2011: The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) renewed its call upon Palestinian decision makers to allow for the unconditional distribution of previously banned Palestinian newspapers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

MADA General Director Mousa Rimawi called upon the Palestinian parties participating in tomorrow’s Cairo meeting to include on their agenda the issue of ending the division’s impact on Palestinian media, particularly the reinstatement and redistribution of previously banned newspapers in the West Bank and Gaza, freely and without hindrance. 

Rimawi added that due to the detrimental effects of the division on the media, including a marked increase in media freedoms violations, harassment of journalists and incidences of self-censorship, the media situation is of the utmost import in the context of political reconciliation. 

Last month MADA sent letters to President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and various other political representatives within the two governments and the PLO, petitioning for an end to the division’s impact on Palestinian media. 

Rimawi added that this step led to MADA filing a personal request that various Palestinian newspapers be allowed to print and distribute freely across the territories.

 MADA has additionally launched a petition to combine the efforts of journalists and various civil society actors in campaigning towards this goal.