Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' journalists forbidden from reporting on 'Palestinian' human rights group findings

'Palestinian' journalists have been forbidden from reporting on the findings of a report by the Independent Commission for Human Rights, a 'Palestinian' human rights group that was established by a 'Presidential decree' by Yasser Arafat in 1993. The group found that over the past year, 'Palestinians' in Judea, Samaria and Gaza were subjected to an almost systematic campaign of human rights abuses by the PA and Hamas.

According to the report, security forces belonging to the PA and Hamas were responsible for torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions.

Palestinian journalists complained that the PA leadership issued instructions to their editors forbidding them from reporting about the findings of the report.

“We were surprised that all the newspapers and news web sites refused to run stories about the human rights group’s report,” said one journalist.

He said that the PA justified its decision by arguing that it did not want to jeopardize the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation accord between Fatah and Hamas.

Journalist Mustafa Ibrahim pointed out that the decision to ban PA-affiliated media outlets from covering the story about the report was in the context of violations and assaults against freedom of media and journalists in the West Bank.

“Assaults on journalists and censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression are still a dreadful nightmare for the journalists,” he said. “Journalists avoid covering events out of fear of being targeted or arrested by [Palestinian] security forces in the West Bank.”

Mustafa said that many journalists were assaulted “physically and morally” and had their cameras destroyed and confiscated by members of the PA security forces while carrying out their duties.

But just 'give them a state' and they'll suddenly become paragons of human rights.

Labels: human rights abuses, Independent Commission for Human Rights, Yasser Arafat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:21 AM