RSF has condemned a brutal 22 April 2004 attack on Palestinian photographer Jamal Aruri, who works for the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). Aruri was attacked by masked men in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Aruri, aged 38, was beaten in the driveway of his home by two masked men armed with clubs. He received injuries to his elbow and suffered bruises to his face and body. He remained in hospital on 23 April and was expected to undergo an operation. “I don’t understand the reason for this attack,” he told AFP. “I don’t have problems here with anyone.” Read more about Masked men attack and injure Palestinian photographer
Media watchdog RSF has expressed shock over a brutal attack on award-winning Israeli documentary filmmaker David Benchetrit in front of the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv. Benchetrit, who is currently working on a film about “refuzniks” - Israeli soldiers who, as conscientious objectors, refuse to serve in the Palestinian territories - was attacked on 21 April on his way to a meeting with Defence Ministry spokesperson Ruth Yaron. “In 30 years of covering wars, I have been injured several times, but I have never been as afraid as I was then, ironically, right by my own home,” Benchetrit told RSF. Read more about Israeli documentary filmmaker brutally assaulted by Israeli security guards
Reporters Without Borders has called on Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz to open an investigation into the death of journalism student Mohammad Abu Halimeh, who was killed on 22 March 2004 while covering clashes at the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. Palestinian hospital and security sources said a bullet had apparently fatally wounded Halimeh in the stomach. Eyewitnesses told RSF that the journalism student was standing about 50 metres from the soldier who opened fire on him. He was reportedly standing in front of one of the Balata camp’s main entrances and had a camera around his neck. Read more about Media watchdog calls for investigation into killing of journalism student
Media watchdog CPJ is concerned by today’s shooting by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of Palestinian photographer Saif Dahla in the West Bank city of Jenin. Two witnesses told CPJ that there were about half a dozen journalists standing together on the sidewalk of a residential neighborhood in Jenin, covering an Israeli incursion into the city in the early afternoon when the shooting occurred. Dahla was shot when a soldier in a tank about 20 meters away fired a few rounds from a machine gun. Read more about AFP photographer shot in Jenin
Media watchdog RSF has expressed its “distress and indignation” to Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, following the assassination of Khalil Al-Zebin, one of his key advisors and publisher of “An-Nashra” magazine, in Gaza on 2 March 2004. Al-Zebin, publisher of the twice-monthly “An-Nashra” and a media advisor to Arafat, was assassinated by a group of armed men as he was leaving his office in central Gaza City on the night of 1 to 2 March. It is not yet known who was responsible for the killing. Since September 2003, media watchdogs have voiced growing alarm over a rising toll of attacks on journalists. Read more about Media watchdog expresses distress over killing of Arafat's media advisor
RSF has demanded a prompt and full investigation after the Gaza City offices of the weekly newspaper “Al-Daar” were ransacked during the Muslim Eid festival, between 1 and 3 February 2004. “The Palestinian Authority should act decisively to prevent attacks against journalists and the media in the territories under its control,” the organisation said in a letter to Palestinian Interior Minister Hakam Balaawi. Al-Daar editor-in-chief Hassan Al-Kachef said the offices had been ransacked and computers were damaged but nothing was stolen, which ruled out a normal burglary. Read more about Offices of Gaza weekly ransacked
At around 4:00 a.m. on Monday, February 2, three masked Palestinian men carrying automatic rifles stormed the offices of the Ramallah-based Al-Quds Educational Television, according to staff. Assistant Manager Haroun Abu Arrah, one of two station employees present at the time, told CPJ that one of the men demanded a “tape,” and when Abu Arrah asked for clarification the assailants began beating the two staffers with rifle butts and fists. After the beating, two of the assailants went into another room and fired several rounds at some of the station’s equipment, destroying computer screens and video equipment. Read more about Masked men attack Palestinian TV station
Seif al-Din Shahin, Gaza correspondent for the al-Arabiya satellite channel, was traveling in his car with ‘Emad ‘Eid, correspondent for al-Manar. They had just left the offices of Arabiya in the center of Gaza city. Five armed individuals, four of whom wore masks, intercepted the car, dragged Shahin from the vehicle and then proceeded to beat him. The group then escaped. Shahin was taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city. He had sustained bruises throughout his body. He was threatened a few days ago about comments he made in his reports. Read more about Masked men assault Arabiya correspondent in Gaza
In 2003, Israel continued its attacks on the press. Two journalists, a Palestinian cameraman and a British documentary filmmaker were killed by the Israeli army. Media watchdogs counted attacks and harrassment of journalists and the increasing restrictions imposed on foreign and Palestinian journalists. In January 2004, new Israeli guidelines for press accreditation will impose more restrictions on the work of foreign journalist trying to cover events on the ground in the occupied Palestinian territories. EI’s Arjan El Fassed highlights journalists in danger in 2003. Read more about 2003: Israeli attacks on the Press
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives in over 120 countries, is dismayed by the announcement that Israel’s accreditation rules for journalists are to be tightened. According to information provided to IPI, the director of the Government Press Office (GPO), Daniel Seaman, recently announced new regulations for foreign and Israeli journalists, to be introduced on 1 January 2004. Today it sent a letter to Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Read more about Accreditation rules for journalists to be tightened
