Ramallah /PNN/

The year 2021 witnessed a total of 562 violations against media freedoms in Palestine, 368 of which were committed by the Israeli occupation, the most serious of these was the killing of journalist Youssef Abu Hussein, media graduates Abd al-Hamid al-Kolak and Muhammad Shaheen in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile Palestinian sides committed 123 violations, while social media networks committed 69 violations, and other parties committed 2 violations. This increase in the number of violations constitutes 137% of the violations compared to the previous year.

The report said, that this noticeable increase in the number of violations is due to two main factors, which are: a significant decrease in the precautionary measures accompanying the spread of the Coronavirus in the Palestinian territories, which were made as part of efforts to combat the epidemic during the year 2020, and the increase in political activities and events Where the journalists who covered it were subjected to violations.

The attacks committed against journalists included a total of 356 journalists, including 281 male and 75 female journalists, and 32 media outlets employing dozens of male and female journalists, some journalists were subjected to more than one violation.

The increase in the number of documented violations is mainly due to the rise in the number of Israeli attacks, which is primarily responsible for the attacks that occurred in 66% of the total violations of the year, and was carried out through 14 types of violations, of which physical attacks occupied the largest number.

In general, this rise is mainly due to the attacks on journalists during their coverage of the activities in Jerusalem and other cities in the West Bank in support of the people of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood against the Israeli attempts to evict them from their homes, in addition to the attacks and incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which lasted for 11 days, had the greatest impact on the increase in the number of violations, as the army forces killed a journalist and media graduates, wounded at least 54 journalists, and destroyed at least 30 headquarters of local, Arab and international media outlets.

As in the past years, most of the Israeli attacks were the dangerous types on media freedoms and the lives of journalists, especially the physical attacks, which were 155 attacks, and constitute 42% of the total Israeli attacks, noting that 133 of them are injuries with live, rubber, metal bullets, and tear gas bombs.

This annual report about the media freedom in West Bank (Including occupied Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip during 2021, witnessed an increase compared to the previous year, especially the Israeli violations. was issued by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom “MADA”.