A total of 259 violations were committed against Palestinian journalists in the occupied territories since the beginning of this year, today said Nasser Abu Bakr, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS).
He said during a press conference to present a report prepared by the Freedoms Committee in the PJS on the Israeli violations against journalists during the first six months of this year that of the total violations, 59 were committed in occupied East Jerusalem, indicating the seriousness of the matter because Palestinian journalists are targeted by the Israeli occupation authorities to prevent media coverage of the occupier’s illegal activities in the city.
He said the PJS has submitted a file to the International Criminal Court on Israel’s violation of Palestinian journalists, including murdering some and maiming others.
Mohammad Lahham, who heads the Freedoms Committee, said 14 journalists were injured by Israeli army bullets in the first six months of this year, seven were directly hit by teargas canisters, concussion bombs or skunk water, and 41 suffocated from teargas inhalation.
He said at the same press conference that the Israeli occupation forces have arrested 17 Palestinian journalists, detained 96 others and prevented from doing their work, brought 16 journalists in front of Israeli courts, summoned for interrogation seven journalists, targeted 50 journalists, while 17 journalists had to be hospitalized after they were attacked by soldiers.
Lahham also said that Facebook was involved in the violations against Palestinian journalists when it censored their content and accounts, explaining that the PJS has documented 700 violations against freedom of the press, with more than 95 percent of them committed by Facebook, which gave in to Israeli pressure and either blocked Palestinian publications or closed accounts of journalists and activists under feeble excuses.
