The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah has blocked access to a popular news website because of the site’s reporting on widespread corruption among the entourage of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. For several days, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been unable to view the website Donia al-Watan (http://www.alwatanvoice.com) as access has been blocked through the PA-controlled telecom company. Readers outside Palestine and a few inside the country using proxies are still able to access the site. The Electronic Intifada confirmed that several users attempting to access the website in Ramallah and other parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank could not do so and instead saw a message in English stating “We are sorry, the site was blocked based on attorney General instructions [sic].” Read more about Ramallah Palestinian Authority blocks website reporting on corruption
UNITEDNATIONS (IPS) - A new United Nations report on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories blasts the Israeli government for its heavy-handed treatment of journalists reporting on the military occupation. The 20-page report, which will go before the 63rd sessions of the General Assembly currently underway, singles out the mistreatment of award-winning Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer who was stripped, interrogated, kicked and beaten up when he returned from Europe to his home town in the occupied territory of Gaza last June. Read more about UN report castigates Israeli abuse of journalists
GAZACITY (IPS) - So much is missing as you walk down the street along the shops of Gaza. Food and medicines kept out by the blockade enforced by Israel; but also newspapers once a part of the street landscape. Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda and Al-Ayyam, two newspapers loyal to Fatah, are not around any more. And for once, you couldn’t blame the Israelis for censorship. Read more about Mutual censorship in the West Bank and Gaza
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the distention of three Palestinian journalists and a columnist by the Palestinian General Intelligence Service in Bethlehem and Qalqilya towns in the West Bank on Thursday, 8 May 2008. PCHR believes that such arrests constitute an attack on press freedoms and the right to freedom of expression, which are ensured by the Palestinian Basic Law and international human rights instruments. Read more about West Bank journalists detained by PA intelligence
GAZACITY, 18 April (IPS) - Fadel Shana’a just had to go to the scene of the Israeli bombing. As a Reuters cameraman, that was his job. He wasn’t the only one killed, but through his pursuit of attacks as they happen, he was always more at risk than most others. Fadel Shana’a was killed Wednesday because he was in the firing line, but also because, eyewitnesses said, he had begun to film the tanks that were firing. A barrage of metal shrapnel pierced his body as a tank missile landed close to him. Read more about Thousands attend funeral of slain Gaza journalist
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the crime committed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Wednesday evening, which took the life of Fadel Shana’a, a Palestinian journalist, when he carrying out his job in Gaza. PCHR expresses utmost concern over continued crimes committed by IOF against journalists and media professionals, which is a reflection of excessive use of force against civilians, and systematic targeting of journalists to prevent them from covering crimes committed against civilians. Read more about Israeli forces in Gaza "willfully kill" journalist
Legal deliberations on the murder of UK citizen James Miller have continued since he was killed on 2 May 2003 at the border line between Gaza and Egypt. Miller and a small crew were filming in the area for a documentary on children’s lives. According to investigations by Al Mezan, then-47-year-old Miller was killed by Israeli troops at approximately 11 pm on 2 May 2003 in the al-Shair neighborhood in Rafah. He was with three other persons, including his colleagues Saira Shah and Daniel Edge, and a Palestinian interpreter, Abedul Rahman Abdullah. Read more about Rights group: Journalist's killers must be prosecuted
Reporters Without Borders is overjoyed at the news that British journalist Alan Johnston was released in the early hours of 4 July 2007 in Gaza as a result of the intervention of senior Muslim clerics and negotiations between Hamas and his kidnappers. The BBC correspondent had been held hostage for 114 days. “Seeing Johnston free and in good health is an immense relief and a great joy,” the press freedom organisation said. “During the 16 weeks he was held, we became more and more concerned at the increasingly grave threats from his abductors and the apparent inability of the Palestinian authorities to find a solution.” Read more about Alan Johnston released after 114 days of captivity
The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the safety of dozens of journalists was endangered by heavy factional fighting today around two Gaza City buildings housing several news organizations. According to CPJ sources and international news reports, Fatah gunmen took over the roofs of the Shawa and Hosari Tower - which houses the Ramattan news agency, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera, among other media outlets - and Al-Johara Tower - which houses the Turkish Ihlas News Agency, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, and other media outlets. Read more about CPJ alarmed by gunfire outside Gaza news buildings
Jordanian authorities should lift their ban on today’s edition of an independent paper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Fahd al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly Al-Majd, told CPJ that security agents moved Sunday to prevent printing of the edition because of a front-page story about a “secret plan” to oust the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Al-Rimawi said security officials told him they would ban the April 30 edition if he did not remove the article, The Associated Press reported. Read more about Jordan blocks newspaper edition over story on 'secret' Abbas plan
