Palestinian Harassment of Press Growing, Rights Group Says

Incidents of harassment against journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have increased, Human Rights Watch said in a report that urged donors to make conditional on measures being taken to crack down on abuses.

“Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs,” Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at New York-based HRW, said in an e-mailed statement. “Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression.”

Since the 2007 takeover of Gaza by Hamas, the majority of the harassment has concerned journalists reporting on the split between the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, and Hamas, according to today’s report. Hamas seized control of the seaside strip a year after winning parliamentary elections, ending a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In the West Bank, security services have also targeted journalists suspected of working on reports that may be critical of the Palestinian Authority, HRW said.

Hamas is careful “to respect media organizations and prevent attacks against them,” Taher al-Nounou, Hamas spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. Palestinian Authority officials were abroad and not immediately available to comment or didn’t answer their mobile phones.

Increased 45%

The report cited the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms as saying the number of attacks, arrests, detentions, arbitrary confiscations of equipment and other violence increased 45 percent in 2010 from the previous year.

Human Rights Watch called on donors who provide financial backing to the Palestinian Authority, such as the U.S. and European Union, to “condition support for all Palestinian Authority security agencies on the Palestinian Authority taking effective steps to investigate, prosecute and punish security officers responsible for serious abuses.”


(2011-4-7/bloomberg)