Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' journalist goes into hiding from PA security forces

Two brothers have been arrested by 'Palestinian security forces,' and their journalist sister has gone into hiding after the sister refused to show up for 'questioning' after she wrote an article about a sit-in strike outside a 'Palestinian' prison.

[Majdoleen] Hassouneh, a graduate of An-Najah University in Nablus, is the recipient of the best investigative reporter award from the Thomas Foundation for an investigation into the medical field in the Palestinian territories.

Last week, she received a phone call from a Preventive Security Force officer who demanded that she report immediately at the headquarters of the apparatus in Nablus.

When she failed to show up, the Preventive Security Force sent her a written summons asking her to report for questioning on Saturday morning.

The letter warned that she would be arrested if she failed to show up.

Hassouneh, who lives in Beit Umrin, near Nablus, announced that she would not go to the security headquarters and described the invitation as an attempt to restrict her freedom of expression.

She said that the Preventive Security Force was trying to force her to sign a document that would limit her freedom of expression as a working journalist.

A number of Palestinian journalists said they have already been asked by PA security forces in the West Bank to sign similar documents where they pledge to cover certain events.

On Saturday night, PA security officers raided Hassouneh’s family home in an attempt to arrest her, but she was not there.

The officers detained her two brothers and told the family that she must report for questioning immediately.

Following the detention of her brothers, Hassouneh reiterated her refusal to report for questioning or to sign any pledge to refrain from covering issues that could reflect negatively on the PA.

“They arrested my two brothers because I wasn’t at home,” she said. “I’m not going to report for interrogation.”

...

Palestinian journalists in Nablus told The Jerusalem Post that Hassouneh was wanted by the PA security forces for covering a sitin strike organized by families of Palestinians held in Palestinian jails in the West Bank.

In response, Hassouneh asked: “If a journalist is not allowed to cover an event that happens in front of her in her city, why did the Palestinian Authority allow the protest of the families to take place outside Jneid Prison? Why is a journalist being summoned to the security forces when these forces didn’t prevent the sit-in strike?” Hassouneh’s friends and colleagues hailed her decision to challenge the much-feared Preventive Security Force as a “brave” move, but expressed concern over her safety.

One journalist pointed out that he and his colleagues have come under heavy pressure from the PA security forces in the West Bank to refrain from reporting about stories that could embarrass the PA leadership.

Last year, two journalists from Bethlehem were arrested by PA security agencies – one for reporting about the dispute between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, and the second for allegedly ridiculing the PA president on his Facebook page.

I hope she's hiding out in Israel and not in the 'Palestinian Authority.'

If the 'Palestinians' get a 'state,' where will journalists like Hassouneh hide? What could go wrong?

Labels: freedom of the press, Majdoleen Hassouneh, Palestinian Authority

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:55 PM