Gilad Erdan signed an order on Thursday barring the Palestinian Authority-funded station F48 from operating from its headquarters in the Northern occupied city of Nazareth.
Israel’s public security minister has decreed that a new Palestinian TV station geared towards Palestinian citizens of Israel cannot broadcast from Israel for six months.
Gilad Erdan signed an order on Thursday barring the Palestinian Authority-funded station F48, or Palestine 48, from operating from its headquarters in the Northern Israeli city of Nazareth. The decision was made because of the Palestinian Authority’s role in the station, not because of questionable content being shown on the channel.
Erdan said that he does not want “Israel’s sovereignty to be harmed” or for the Palestinian Authority to gain a “foothold” in the country.
Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the head of the Communications Ministry to work on shuttering the station. Netanyahu urged ministry staffers to investigate the channel’s legality, particularly with regard to Palestinian Authority funding.
Riad Hassan, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, called the move “illegal” and said that two Israeli companies who produce content for the channel will contest the action in Israel’s Supreme Court.
The channel, which debuted on air last month, will continue to produce content from its other headquarters in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Hassan has said the station’s goal is to illuminate the “social, cultural and economic difficulties” of Israeli Arabs.
17 Year Old Ali Abu Ghannam Murdered By Israeli Forces Last Night
A 17-year-old Palestinian was shot dead at the Al-Zayyim checkpoint in occupied East Jerusalem after allegedly attempting to stab checkpoint officers just past midnight on Saturday.
Israeli Occupation Soldiers Assault Palestinian Farmers Near Nablus
Several Israeli soldiers held several Palestinian farmers and shepherds and assaulted them late Friday near the Yitzhar Street in southern Nablus, locals told Ma’an.
WATCH: Israeli Occupation Officer Attacks, Throws Stones At Photojournalists
Video shows Israeli photojournalist and AFP photographer being attacked by Israeli soldiers at the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. One Palestinian protester is reportedly shot with live fire.
PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi met with UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl on Thursday to discuss the ongoing crisis for refugees in Gaza and Yarmouk.
Israeli Occupation Denies South African Education Minister Entry To Palestine
The South African minister of higher education said late Thursday that he had been denied entry to Palestine by Israeli authorities in revenge for political stances against Israeli policies.
Two UNESCO Motions Against Israeli Violations In West Bank, Gaza Blockade And Child Murder
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, on Tuesday received two motions strongly condemning Israeli occupation’s humanitarian and legal violations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Video shows Israeli photojournalist and AFP photographer being attacked by Israeli soldiers at the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. One Palestinian protester is reportedly shot with live fire.
Israeli soldiers threw stones at and attacked Israeli and Palestinian photojournalists during a protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, during which the army used live fire against protesters. One Palestinian was reportedly shot in the head.
Palestinians in Nabi Saleh hold weekly protests every Friday against the occupation and to demand access to the village’s spring, which was taken over by Israeli settlers.
In a video of the event, a soldier can be seen throwing a stone at Israeli photojournalist Haim Schwarczenberg and a Palestinian photographer who works for AFP as they attempt to comply with soldiers’ orders to leave the area.
As he walks away, an officer runs after him and pushes Schwarczenberg to the ground. When he gets up and moves further away from them, the officer throws another stone at Schwarczenberg and the AFP photographer.
Schwarczenberg reported that he was standing on a hill photographing Palestinian stone throwers when his colleague, Abbas, told him to get close to the ground because soldiers were shooting live bullets at the stone throwers.
“One of the soldiers suddenly appeared from behind us and shouted, ‘get out of here before I shoot you’,” Schwarczenberg said. “Abbas and I got up to go but then the soldier shouted, ‘lay down!’, and pointed his weapon in our direction [at the stone thrower behind us].” The stone thrower escaped.
“At that point [the soldier] began pushing me and Abbas, another soldier joined him and threw a stone at us that didn’t hit me,” he continued. “Right after that he threw me and my cameras to the ground.”
A few minutes later the soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the head, Schwarczenberg said.
“The IDF does everything in its power to ensure freedom of the press in [the West Bank] but will not allow violations of the law or for the press to harm IDF forces,” the IOF spokesperson released, adding that “the incident is being looked into.”
Israeli soldiers threw stones at and attacked Israeli and Palestinian photojournalists during a protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, during which the army used live fire against protesters. One Palestinian was reportedly shot in the head.
Palestinians in Nabi Saleh hold weekly protests every Friday against the occupation and to demand access to the village’s spring, which was taken over by Israeli settlers.
In a video of the event, a soldier can be seen throwing a stone at Israeli photojournalist Haim Schwarczenberg and a Palestinian photographer who works for AFP as they attempt to comply with soldiers’ orders to leave the area.
As he walks away, an officer runs after him and pushes Schwarczenberg to the ground. When he gets up and moves further away from them, the officer throws another stone at Schwarczenberg and the AFP photographer.
Schwarczenberg reported that he was standing on a hill photographing Palestinian stone throwers when his colleague, Abbas, told him to get close to the ground because soldiers were shooting live bullets at the stone throwers.
“One of the soldiers suddenly appeared from behind us and shouted, ‘get out of here before I shoot you’,” Schwarczenberg said. “Abbas and I got up to go but then the soldier shouted, ‘lay down!’, and pointed his weapon in our direction [at the stone thrower behind us].” The stone thrower escaped.
“At that point [the soldier] began pushing me and Abbas, another soldier joined him and threw a stone at us that didn’t hit me,” he continued. “Right after that he threw me and my cameras to the ground.”
A few minutes later the soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the head, Schwarczenberg said.
“The IDF does everything in its power to ensure freedom of the press in [the West Bank] but will not allow violations of the law or for the press to harm IDF forces,” the IOF spokesperson released, adding that “the incident is being looked into.”
RAMALLAH, February 18, 2015 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS) Wednesday slammed Israel’s arrest of journalist Ala’a al-titi a continuation of Israel’s aggression committed against the Palestinian people.
A protest in solidarity with al-Titi was held in front of the Israeli Ofer prison. Secretary General of PJS, Abdul Nasser al-Najjar, condemned Israel’s arrest of al-Titi almost a month ago, expressing total rejection to the policy of arresting journalists on grounds of their work.
He stressed the Palestinian satellite channels work in line with regulations and laws and have a right to practice their job inside the Palestinian territories.
Al-Titi was arrested three times, including the current arrest, under grounds of working for what the Israeli authorities described as a ‘terrorist satellite channel’; al-Aqsa channel.
He was arrested on January 21, after Israeli forces brutally raided his home in Aroub refugee camp to the north of Hebron, said the Palestinian Information Center.
The center said, “Titi’s arrest came only a week after his release from PA jails where he was detained for several times by PA security forces, in addition to spending four years behind Israeli bars.”
Head of PJS called upon the international and Arab journalist unions to dispatch a letter to the Israeli government and request the release of 15 Palestinian journalists currently detained in Israeli jails.
To be noted, Around 17 journalists were killed and 30 others were wounded during the third Israeli offensive on Gaza in just seven years. Houses of other journalists were also demolished, displacing their families, while several media outlets were targeted and destroyed.
RAMALLAH, November 8, 2014 (WAFA) – The Palestinian Liberation organization PLO expressed concern over the use of the inaccurate term “Temple Mount” to refer to Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem, urging all international media representatives to adhere to international law and correct any other existing terminology used.
“The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is not a disputed territory and all other terms, therefore, are null and void,” stated the statement.
Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, sometimes referred to as the Noble Sanctuary (“Haram al-Sharif” in Arabic), is the compound that contains Al Aqsa building itself, ablution fountains, open spaces for prayer, monuments and the Dome of the Rock building. This entire area enclosed by the walls which spans 144 dunums (almost 36 acres), forms the Mosque.
Sacred to approximately 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, and a symbol for all Palestinians, the Mosque has been under exclusive Muslim sovereignty and control since the construction of the Dome of the Rock in 692 CE. As such, any entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque must be agreed and coordinated by the Muslim Waqf.
Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound is located in East-Jerusalem, an internationally recognized part of the Occupied State of Palestine, stressed the statement.
Since Israel’s military occupation of East Jerusalem in the June 1967 War, several plots by Settler organizations and other Zionist extremists to blow up the Mosque were uncovered by the Israeli authorities, it said.
“In 1980, Israel adopted the “Basic Law” on Jerusalem, which ratified the annexation of Occupied East Jerusalem to Israel; which the international community ‘does not recognize’, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 478.
This Resolution rejected the Israeli measure as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and determined that, “all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and the status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular, the recent ‘basic law’ on Jerusalem, are null and void.”
Today, many settler leaders, with the support of the Israeli government, continue to incite against this sacred site, and consequently provoke Palestinian fears and anger.
The statement stressed that Israel, the occupying power, has failed at stopping settler extremists from entering the Mosque and this constitutes a violation of the Waqf’s custodianship and its obligation as an occupying power to maintain public order and civil life in the occupied territory.
RAMALLAH, October 23, 2014 (WAFA) – The Israeli authorities Thursday denied entry of former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, Aidan White, to the Palestinian Territories through Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport, according to a local source.
Ghassan Abdullah, head of the Educational Studies Institute, a local Palestinian educational center, said he received a phone call from White saying he was stopped at the airport and denied entry to Palestine due to the recent motion passed by the United Kingdom’s House of Representatives, in which it called on the government to recognize an independent state of Palestine.
White was due to give a number of lectures to media undergraduates in a set of Palestinian universities.
On October 13, an overwhelming majority of British members of Parliament favored a motion that calls for the recognition of Palestine as an official state in a contribution for peace, a move that was faced with wide criticism in Israel as that could lead to more international isolation for Israel.
Ramallah- 3/10/2014- MADA: September has witnessed a limited number of violations against journalists comparing to July and August, which witnessed the bloodiest and most severe violations in the history of the Palestinian media. These bloody violation committed in the previous months were due to what the Israeli occupation forces have committed during their attack on the Gaza Strip, which resulted the death of 17 journalists and media workers as well as the injured and the destruction of media outlets.
The Palestinian center for Development and Media Freedoms monitored a number of violations against journalists and freedom of expression committed by both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides. All of these violations were committed in the West Bank, where a number of them were against journalists and media workers and the other violations were against civilians for expressing their views through social media.
Israeli violations:
The Israeli occupation forces continued attacking Palestinian journalists; the most severe was targeting the AFP photographer and shooting him with a bullet after he was covering the IOF killing two Palestinians in Hebron on 23/9. Also beating, detaining and investigating with Ro’ya TV correspondent Ahmad Barahme (aged 24) and Zeinat Al-Quds network Riyad Qadriyye for around 5 hours. They both were heading off for a journalistic tour in Jerusalem. On 24/9 the IOF also assaulted Al-Falastiniyya TV cameraman and the journalist at Panet agency Ahmad Jalajel (aged 35) as well as Quds Net agency photojournalist Diala Jwehan and tried to prevent them from covering the procedures taken by the IOF in Jerusalem during Jewish feast celebrations.
Palestinian violations:
The Intelligence service in Bethlehem arrested the political activist and Asda’ correspondent Qutaiba Saleh Qasem (aged 26). They detained him for 24 hours and investigated with him about his posts on Facebook on 7/9. On 19/9 The Palestinian intelligence service and national security officers arrested “Filisteen Al-Yaum” TV producer Mujahed Mohammad Al-Sa’di (aged 26) in Jenin, detained him for 36 hours and investigated with him about his posts on Facebook. In Tulkarem they detained the freelance journalist Yazeed Khader (aged 50) for 24 hours after investigating with him. The preventive security forces arrested the journalism student at Birzeit University and the head of media club Bara’ Al-Qadi (aged 22) for nine days for his writings on Facebook. They also arrested other citizens for their writings on Facebook.
Recommendations:
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) condemns all these violations committed against journalists, media workers and activists. MADA demands the international community to put pressure on the Israeli government to end these violations against journalists and to guarantee their right to cover the events and to express their opinion freely.
MADA demands the Palestinian security forces again to stop prosecution of journalists and social media activists for their views, especially that the basic law guarantees the freedom of expression. Besides, there is no justification for the detention policy, since the law gives anyone the right to litigate in cases of defamation. Besides, the trend worldwide is towards either not implementing existing provisions allowing arrest and prosecution of journalists and those who express publicly their opinion, or amending national legislations to prohibit explicitly such measures. MADA also urges journalists and activists to improve the wording of their criticism and avoid using insults, libel and blasphemous language.
MADA also expresses its concern and rejection of ejection of Israeli newspapers “Haaretz” correspondent Amira Hass from Birzeit University. Hass is well known for her professional coverage of the violations against human right of Palestinian people. As well as the attack committed by Al-Najah University security against a number of students who protested against the visit of the American Consulate members. The assault caused a break in the student Mohammad Abu Awwad’s hand, besides injuries to other students, especially that freedoms should be guaranteed for all inside the universities campuses.
Occupied: Headlines From Palestine 