23 September 2010

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns the Israeli occupation forces attack on the correspondent of Al-Quds Net Diala Jwehan and the correspondent of Palestine TV Nader Baybres. MADA also condemns the Israeli security arrest of four journalists, they are: WAFA agency photographer and APA Agency Muammar Awad, the photographer and reporter of Radar newspaper Nour Karameh, Panet news website correspondent Amir Abed Rabbo, and Middle East Agency for News Photography photographer Imran Alrashaq. The accidents took place while the journalists were
covering the clashes broke out yesterday (22 September 2010) between the Israeli occupation forces and Palestinian youths in different areas in Jerusalem city. 

Jwehan said that she went to Silwan area in Jerusalem to cover the clashes erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths, after Israeli citizen killed a Palestinian man from Silwan. During the covering the
Israeli soldiers threw many tear gas bombs, one of the bombs hit Jwehan’s back, which caused her a loss of consciousness, bruising in her back and stomach burns as a result of inhalation of large gas quantities.

From his part, Baybres said that he was standing on a short distance from the Israeli army and away from the demonstrators to cover the clashes, during that one of the soldiers threw tear gas bomb deliberately on him, so it hit his left leg so he fell down on the ground, which caused bruises in the backbone of his leg.

The journalist Awad said: "I was with my colleagues covering the evening prayer at Al Aqsa Mosque, during that the occupation soldiers and Israeli Special Forces violently attacked the worshipers, so we pictured that. At the end of the prayer, we came out from “Asbat Gate", members of the Israeli security arrested us immediately. They detained us for a while in front of the peoples whose were in the area, and despite the intervention of the rest of journalists to release us they refused, then they took us to investigation center in “Al-Khalil Gate" area, where we were under investigation from 4:30 PM until 1:30 AM, then the Israeli officer received a call to release us. So we were released after receiving a formal decision that banned us from entering the Old City area in Jerusalem for fifteen days, and if we enter the area, we will pay five thousand shekels, and arrest for six months".

MADA condemns once again all the Israeli violations against Palestinian journalists, and demands the immediate intervention of the international community, and human rights organizations to protect the Palestinian journalists and to halt all attacks against them.
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Contact: 
Riham Abu Aita
Public Relation Officer
Ramallah
riham@madacenter.org
www.madacenter.org
00970 2 2976519