Ramallah /PNN/

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has issued its report on the violations of media freedoms in Palestine during the first half of 2022.

The report showed a significant decline in the number of violations documented by MADA during the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021.

During the first half of 2022, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the Occupied City of Jerusalem, witnessed a total of 247 violations, compared to a total of 384 violations during the first half of 2021, recording a decline of 36% than it was, primarily owing to the fact that the first half of this year did not witness critical events like those witnessed in the same period last year, such as the occupation’s attempts to displace Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, the Israeli attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the aggression against Gaza Strip, the murder of human rights activist NIZAR BANAT by the Palestinian security forces, and the protest response on the street, which all led to an increase in the number of violations against journalists who covered such events.

The Israeli occupation committed the greatest number of these attacks (195 attacks), accounting for 79% of the total violations documented by MADA during the first six months of 2022, while various Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip committed (18) attacks, accounting for 7% of all attacks, while social media companies committed (34) violations, accounting for 13% of all documented violations.

The report also showed that the decrease in the violations documented by MADA as witnessed in the first half of this year is attributed to the sharp drop in the number of Palestinian violations, by 79% compared to the violations documented during 2021. The number of Israeli violations - all of which took place in the West Bank - also decreased by 58 points, and the number of violations by social media companies also dropped by 21% compared to the last year 2021.

The 247 attacks/assaults documented in the first half of 2022 affected a total of 146 journalists (119 male and 27 female).

As in most years, the Israeli violations – which fall under 14 types - constituted the largest percentage of all violations and the most serious, underlined by the murder of Al-Jazeera reporter SHIREEN ABU AKLEH, the journalist at Dream Radio, GHOFRAN WARASNAH. In addition, physical injury (80 assaults) constituted the largest percentage of Israeli violations, which accounted for 41%, followed by coverage ban-deliberate targeting and coverage ban by 63%, and arrest and detention by 6% of the total Israeli violations.

In its report, MADA clarified that the sharp decrease in the Palestinian violations must be interpreted as a positive indicator to proceed with this approach, to be promoted to bring about transformations towards media freedoms, as it decreased from 87 violations during the first half of 2021 to 18 violations during the same period this year.

As for the decrease in the violations of social media companies, it came primarily as a result of the self-censorship by journalists on their publications for fear of being subject to closing or restricting their accounts. According to the report, it was not attributed to changes in the general policies of these companies towards Palestinian content.