RAMALLAH, April 3 (WAFA)- Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) Sunday reported that Israel has committed 14 violations against journalists in March.
According to WAFA’s monthly report, Israel has systematically escalated it’s aggression against Palestinian journalists in Palestine; shot bullets and tear gas bombs at them, beaten them, arrested them, summoned them and brought them to trial, in addition to five cases of other injuries and nine detention cases. No attacks on journalistic equipment or institutions were reported.
The report said Israeli forces and settlers assaulted a camera man from ‘Palestine television’ and another one from the European news agency while covering the weekly protest against settlement construction, in the village of Bet Ummar, north of Hebron, on March 5th.
On the 9th of March, Israeli soldiers detained WAFA’s correspondent for several hours in front of the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs), in Hebron, without any reason.
On March 11th, a journalist from al-Quds newspaper was shot in the foot, and a photographer form Wadi Hilweh Information center was moderately wounded while covering the clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, following Friday prayers in Silwan’s sit-in tent and in Al-Thawra neighborhood, south of the mosque.
On March 16th, Israel Border Police detained a group of Jerusalemite journalists while they were on their way home from a protest for the murder of Al-Jazeera’s reporter in Libya, Ali Hasan Al-Jaber. The soldiers harassed and pursued the reporters, mocked them, blocked their way and detained them for several hours.
On March 18th, Mahfoth Abu Turk was hit by a gas bomb in his face, while covering clashes in al-Bustan neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of the old city, in Jerusalem.
On March 22, the Israeli forces arrested journalist Kamal sharab, news programs director in the news public administration of ‘Voice of Palestine' radio, during a raid on his house, in Awarta, a town southeast of Nablus.
On the 22nd of March, the Israeli Attorney General in Jerusalem provided and indictment against a journalist from ‘Sawt Al-Haq wa Al-Horiya’, the site of Pal-48 news site and the media coordinator of Al-Aqsa Institution. The list of charges was based on covering settlers breaking into Al-Aqsa mosque on the 13th of April 2009. The Attorney General also charged another two reporters; one for his violent behavior in a public place and the other for obstructing the work of a police officer.
On the 25th of March, Israeli soldiers arrested a photographer from B’Tselem, amid covering the anti-Wall and settlement weekly protest in Al-Nabi Saleh, a village north-west of Ramallah.
Israeli forces also arrested in the same day, Waqdi-Al-Hilweh’s Information Center’s photographer while covering clashes between Residents of Silwan and Israeli forces following Friday prayers.
Chairman of bored of WAFA Agency, Riyad Al-Hassan, said: “The ongoing violations against our journalists is Israel’s way of putting the world in the dark and concealing its heinous crimes against Palestinian civilians”.
He said “Palestinian cameras worry Israel, which is why they are targeting them; to prevent them from filming facts and present them to the world”.
Israel has violated all international laws and standards of the human rights, thus showing no respect to journalistic work, he added.
He concluded by calling on all international human right organizations, to provide protection for all Palestinians working in the media sector from Israel’s growing viciousness and aggressions.
M.N./F.R.
