Ramallah /PNN/
February 2023 has witnessed a decline in the number of violations committed against media freedoms across Palestine compared to January in which significant number of violations and assaults was documented.
During February, MADA has documented a total of 36 violations and attacks against media freedoms in Palestine, 32 of which are committed by the Occupation, while two by the Palestinian authorities, and two by social media networks. What was documented in February represents a decrease of 39% compared to what January witnessed, in which 59 violations were documented, 44 of which were committed by the Israeli occupation, while 8 violations were committed by Palestinian authorities.
Israeli Violations:
The number of documented Israeli violations decreased during February by 8 points compared to January, as a total of 32 violations committed by the occupation forces, authorities and settlers were documented, representing 89% of the total violations for the month.
Most of the Israeli violations committed during the past month fall under serious violations threatening the lives of journalists, foremost of which are the physical injuries that show the testimonies of the victims and the circumstances in which deliberate targeting of journalists took place by soldiers to keep them from covering field events in light of the escalation across various governorates, especially what happened in Nablus.
The number of physical assaults documented during February totaled (11), namely: the cameraman WAEL ALSALAMIYAH (rubber bullet in the right leg), AHMED KHALAF (bullet in the left arm), OMAIR ISTAITAH (bullet fragments in the ear), MOHAMMED ALKHATEEB (bullet in the chest), HASSAN ISLAIH (gas bomb in the shoulder), AYMAN NOBANI (sponge-tipped bullet in the thigh), ASHRAF ABU SHAWISH and HANI ALSHAER (gas suffocation), ISSAM ALRIMAWI (pushed hard), JIHAD BARAKAT (hit in the head).
In addition to the aforementioned, the occupation forces targeted 10 journalists to prevent them from covering the events. Most of the violations took place in Nablus, and included the journalists ABDALLAH BAHSH, OMAIR ISTAITAH, BAKER ABDELHAQ, YASSER HABESHAH, JIHAD BADAWI, IHAB ALAMI, MOHAMMED AYYAD, HADI SABARNAH in Hebron, SAJA ALALAMI targeted in Rammon, SABRI JIBREL who was assaulted and beaten by the occupation soldiers who smashed his camera not to mention targeting him with gunfire and stun grenades to keep him from covering the events in Hebron.
On another hand, Israeli parties have incited against the journalist SAID ALDEEN ALQAWASMI and the journalist LATIFA ABDELLATIF and demanded their deportation. This is in addition to preventing the journalist NASSER ISHTAYA and the journalist ABDALLAH BAHSH from covering “Beit Dajan” weekly march. Furthermore, the occupation intelligence arrested the journalist ABD SHATAT for eight days and released him on bail, and summoned both journalists MUSAB QAFISHAH AND KAREEM KHAMAISAH and questioned them.
Moreover, an Israeli officer seized the press card and car keys of the journalist NASSER ISHATAYA for an hour while he was in Huwara.
Palestinian Violations:
Palestinian violations witnessed a clear decline during February, as a total of only two violations were documented, or 6% of all documented violations, compared to eight Palestinian violations documented during January.
These violations were limited to the investigation of the Palestinian intelligence service with Al-Jazeera cameramen, MOHAMMED SOMRAIN and MOHAMMED TURKMAN, about their financial rewards from Al-Jazeera TV.
Social Media-Related Violations:
Violations by social media companies and networks decreased during the past month to only two violations, representing 6% of all violations committed, while during January, 7 violations against media freedoms were documented by social media.
These violations included the closure of the Instagram account of journalist SAID ALDEEN ALQAWASMI and the closure of Palestine News Network (PNN) Page for four days.
