Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: freedom of press palestinian style

Showing posts with label freedom of press palestinian style. Show all posts

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Hamas closes Ma'an, Al Arabiya offices in Gaza

Freedom of the press, Hamas-style:

The attorney-general in the Hamas-run government on Thursday ordered the closure of the Ma'an News Agency and Al-Arabiya satellite channel bureaus in Gaza.

The order was relayed to Ma'an by officials from the Hamas-run Ministry of Information and security forces.

Ministry officials accompanied by security forces questioned the Gaza bureau chief in his office on Thursday over a report published on Ma'an's Arabic site that quoted information translated from a Hebrew news site.

The report said that six Muslim Brotherhood officials had smuggled themselves into Gaza to plan an uprising against the military in Cairo, after their Egyptian president was deposed.

A ministry official told Ma'an's bureau chief that the report was false.

"Ma'an News agency insists that the Gaza Strip is involved in the Egyptian crisis seeking to intensify the incitement in Egypt against the Strip," the ministry official said.

"Ma'an deliberately publishes false news reports seeking to incite against Gaza. It has become complicit with Egyptian media outlets in incitement against the Strip and making up lies to harm the image of Palestinian resistance," the official continued.

Commenting on the accusations, Ma'an's editor-in-chief Nasser Lahham said "some people in Gaza seemingly went mad after the Muslim Brotherhood rule was ousted in Egypt.

"They take any possible occasion to wage tough attacks against Ma'an News Agency for no reason. We have lodged official complaints to the office of the Gaza premier, to the former Minister of Information Mustafa Barghouthi, to the Ministry of Information and to the union of Palestinian journalists."

And from Al Arabiya:

An office belonging to Al Arabiya television network was shut down by authorities in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Thursday for allegedly reporting “false” information regarding the Hamas leadership.

Hamas authorities said they are going to temporarily close the office and refrain all employees from entering the building, which is located in the al-Ramal neighborhood in the center of Gaza, Al Arabiya’s correspondent said.

The correspondent said that the employees were notified by the authorities they would be arrested if they enter the office, adding that there is a number of other media offices that were also shut down.

“The Attorney General decided to close down Al-Arabiya... in Gaza for distributing false news regarding the smear campaign against Hamas and Gaza about what's happening in Egypt,” a Hamas official told AFP.

Hamas' paranoia and fear keeps increasing.

B'Tselem and Hamas' excellent adventure

YNet reports:

A B’Tselem ad calling on Hamas to release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit "immediately and unconditionally" has been banned in Gaza, according to the Israeli human rights organization.

The group spokeswoman said the ad was published on Thursday by the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, which is circulated in the West Bank, but the Gaza-based daily 'Palestine' refused to print it.

"We wanted to publish the ad in the Gaza Strip as well, but we were unsuccessful," the spokeswoman told Ynet.

"They ('Palestine' newspaper staff) did not give us a reason for the refusal, but we assume it's because the issue is a complex one (in the Hamas-ruled territory). The press in Gaza is apparently not so free. The ad was published in Al-Quds, and we hope the residents of Gaza will read it there."

B'Tselem, a human rights organization, will not hesitate to condemn Israel at the drop of a hat, but look how difficult it is for them to say anything bad about Hamas.

"We assume."
"It's complex."
"Apparently not so free."

Not "We were refused" but "we were unsuccessful."

This episode illuminates B'Tselem's mindset far better than it illustrates Hamas'.

Free speech, PalArab-supporter style

I just saw another typical Israel-bashing website that masquerades as a Google News source called "Palestine Think Tank - Free Minds for a Free Palestine."

As can be expected, it celebrates previous terror attacks against Israel (calling it "resistance") but publicly claims that current "resistance" be non-violent - not because terrorism is immoral, but because at this point in time it looks really bad to the stupid Western nations who still abhor murdering Jews for no good reason.

For a site that uses the word "free" so freely, it has an interesting caveat in its comment policy:

Comments containing Zionist propaganda...will not be approved.

Apparently, the ediors of this "news" source are so afraid that some truth might leak out in the comments that they'd rather censor it ahead of time.

Freedom of the press, PA-style

A story I had been meaning to blog:

The Palestinian Authority has decided to ban a number of journalists from entering the presidential Mukata compound in Ramallah.

The decision is aimed at punishing the journalists because of their criticism of the PA leadership or for reporting about the activities of Hamas leaders.

Al-Jazeera reporters and TV crews are among those who now appear on the PA's blacklist. They have been denied access to the Mukata for the past two weeks.

Other journalists working for Arab and Western media outlets have also been told that they are no longer welcome to visit the compound.

The decision to ban Al-Jazeera came after the popular TV station failed to carry a live broadcast of a speech given by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in front of the PLO Central Council in Ramallah.

Instead, the station broadcast live from Damascus, where Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was addressing a conference of radical groups.

Al-Jazeera has thus far refrained from reporting about the PA's decision to boycott the station. A source in the station said that the decision not to report about the ban was taken after the PA warned Al-Jazeera that publicizing the issue would only cause more damage to its reporters.

PA officials accused Al-Jazeera of being biased in favor of Hamas, noting that this was not the first time that the station had served as a platform for Hamas and other radical Islamic groups.

Some PA officials even went as far as demanding the closure of the Al-Jazeera offices in the West Bank. The homes and vehicles of some Al-Jazeera reporters have been either torched or stoned by Fatah activists in the West Bank in the past two years.

Earlier this week, the largest Palestinian news agency, Ramattan, decided to suspend its work in the West Bank after the PA leadership also banned its reporters from entering the Mukata.

The agency also accused the PA security forces of raiding its Ramallah offices, arresting its workers and confiscating a mobile broadcast truck.

Another journalist who has been denied access to the Mukata is Nael Nakhleh, a resident of Al-Bireh who writes from newspapers in the Gulf. Nakhleh was arrested by the PA's General Intelligence for allegedly publishing reports that reflect negatively on the PA leaders.

The PA has, over the past few years, become less tolerant toward "unfriendly" journalists, especially Palestinian newsmen who report about financial corruption and abuse of human rights in PA-controlled areas.

Seven Palestinian reporters have been arrested by Abbas's security forces in the past few months for allegedly expressing sympathy with Hamas. Most were released after being warned against publishing material that reflects negatively on Abbas and the PA leadership.

This is exactly how things were under Arafat.

As far as I can tell, Al Jazeerah has still not reported on its being blacklisted, thus buckling under to the PA's demands.

By the way, here is a picture of an al-Jazeera reporter - reporting from Jaffa in a typically anti-Israel article. He doesn't seem to have been kicked out.

Freedom of the press, PA-style

From Ma'an:

Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces disguised as civilians detained two Ma'an journalists in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem on Tuesday.

Ma'an's Tulkarem correspondent, Sami As-Sa'i, and cameraman, Muayyad Al-Ashqar, were assaulted on Tuesday by PA security forces wearing civilian clothes before they were taken to a police station. Forces confiscated Al-Ashqar's camera, as well.

Reporters Sans Frontieres remains silent.

Freedom of the Press, Hamas-style

In the latest example of Hamas attacks on journalists:

A Palestinian journalist with Saut Al-Quds (voice of Jerusalem) Radio Station accused members of the de facto government security in Gaza of torturing him as he attempted to cover the story of Gazan pilgrims waiting at Rafah crossing.

Ala Salamah said he was harshly beaten and forced to eat food full of sand. The journalist was fasting in the days leading up to Eid Al-Adha, and the police forced him to eat and break his fast.

Al-Quds Radio denounced the acts in a statement that described them as sinful deeds that were not “an attack on the Radio station itself but rather an attack on free speech.”

Firas Press reports that journalists are being threatened by Hamas not to cover the Gaza pilgrims massed on the Rafah border trying to go to Mecca.

Reporters Without Borders and the Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association continue to ignore all Palestinian Arab violations of free speech while they complain about Israel.

Freedom of expression, Hamas-style

While Hamas and Fatah are trying to hammer out a reconciliation agreement in Cairo, Hamas has just warned printers in Gaza not to print any pictures of Yassir Arafat.

Firas Press reports that Hamas threatened to shut down any printer who dares create an Arafat or Fatah poster as the fourth anniversary of Arafat's death is next week.

Hamas sent thugs to a number of printers in Gaza to warn them personally, and to threaten them with arrest and the loss of their equipment if they don't listen.

Freedom of the press, Hamas-style

For the second day in a row, Hamas has confiscated all of the West Bank newspapers delivered to Gaza: al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Quds and al-Ayyam.

Hamas is still saying that Fatah is responsible for the Friday bombings that killed five of its members and it does not want Gazans to see Fatah's denials, and especially evidence and accusations that the blast was because of Hamas infighting.

Hamas had already raided and destroyed the offices of the Fatah-based WAFA news agency in Gaza over the weekend.

Meanwhile, both Hamas and Fatah continue to arrest members of the other organizations in Gaza and the West Bank, respectively.

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (XII)

The Palestinian Arab WAFA news agency reports:

A person who claimed to be speaking on behalf of Hamas, this evening, threatened the news agency 'Wafa', if it does not stop the dissemination of news about the practices of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The person said in a telephone conversation with the Agency's headquarters in central Ramallah that he speaks on behalf of Hamas movement and gave the Agency until next Saturday to stop the reporting of news about Hamas in Gaza.
.
He added : 'You know that Hamas is capable of implementing its threat'.

Ironically, West Bank-based Palestinian Arab news sources are more accurate in their reporting about Hamas than any of the wire services.

Freedom of the press, Hamas-style

Hafez Barghouti is the editor of the Fatah daily Al Hayat al-Jadida newspaper. He has printed things that were critical of Hamas in the past year, and Hamas has revoked the credentials of Al-Hayat to work in Gaza.

Now, Hamas is bringing it to another level - they are suing Barghouti for libel!

From Ma'an (Arabic):

al-Hayat al-Jadida editor Hafez al-Barghouthi received a lawsuit via fax yesterday from the [Gaza] Strip Magistrate's Court inviting him to appear before it on Monday the twenty-fourth of this March to be tried on charges of libel violation of Article 204, 203 and in 1936 for disseminating Publications offensive to the members of the Palestinian government .

For its part the [Palestinian Arab] Journalists Union condemned the case and considered it against press freedom and against Palestinian journalists.

Freedom of the Press, Moderate Palestinian Arab-style

PCHR says:

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 12:00 on Wednesday, 12 March 2008, armed members of the PSS, accompanied by 3 officers in civilian clothes, stormed the headquarters of Ramattan Press Agency in al-Wehaidi Building in al-Masyoun neighborhood in Ramallah. They requested Nawaf Ibrahim al-‘Aamer, 48, an editor, to accompany them. However, he asked them to show an arrest warrant, and they showed a warrant issued by the Attorney General’s office allowing entering the headquarters and arresting him. Members of the PSS confiscated all belongings of al-‘Aamer and a computer set. They also broke into the dormitory of the agency’s staff and confiscated all documents in the room where al-‘Aamer lives. They then arrested him.

In his testimony to PCHR, journalist Nawaf al-‘Aamer stated:

They took me in a military vehicle to the headquarters of the PSS in Ramallah. They took my personal data and photographed me. They then moved me to the headquarters of the PSS in Bitounia town. They interrogated me in 6 sessions. They asked me about my e-mail and wanted to have my password. They wanted to check my e-mail claiming that there are materials related to Palestinian security. I refused to open my e-mail without the presence of my director or the President of the Union of Journalists, but they insisted. At approximately 23:00, I agreed to open my e-mail on a private computer. They allowed a relative of mine to come and bring a laptop. I opened my e-mail, and the interrogators downloaded all messages. At approximately 04:00 on Thursday, 13 March 22008, they released me after Ramattan Press Agency and other people had mediated. However, they requested me to come to the headquarters of the PSS at 14:00 to continue the interrogation.”

And Ramattan is not particularly extremist, compared to many other media outlets there.

Freedom of the press, al-Jazeera style

People love to talk about how al-Jazeera changed the face of Arab journalism. This is no doubt true, but as the New York Times notes, this hardly a matter of press freedom:

When a Saudi court sentenced a young woman to 200 lashes in November after she pressed charges against seven men who had raped her, the case provoked outrage and headlines around the world, including in the Middle East.

But not at Al Jazeera, the Arab world’s leading satellite television channel, seen by 40 million people. The station’s silence was especially noteworthy because until recently, and unlike almost all other Arab news outlets, Al Jazeera had long been willing — eager, in fact — to broadcast fierce criticisms of Saudi Arabia’s rulers.

For the past three months Al Jazeera, which once infuriated the Saudi royal family with its freewheeling newscasts, has treated the kingdom with kid gloves, media analysts say.

The newly cautious tone appears to have been dictated to Al Jazeera’s management by the rulers of Qatar, where Al Jazeera has its headquarters....

The policy also illustrates the way the Arab media, despite the new freedoms introduced by Al Jazeera itself a decade ago, are still often treated as political tools by the region’s autocratic rulers.

“The gulf nations now feel they are all in the same boat, because of the threat of Iran, and the chaos of Iraq and America’s weakness,” said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. “So the Qataris agreed to give the Saudis assurances about Al Jazeera’s coverage.”

Those assurances, Mr. Alani added, were given at a September meeting in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, between King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and top officials in the Qatari government. For the meeting, aimed at resolving a long-simmering feud between the nations, the Qataris brought along an unusual guest: the chairman of Al Jazeera’s board, Sheik Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani.

Repercussions were soon felt at Al Jazeera.

“Orders were given not to tackle any Saudi issue without referring to the higher management,” one Jazeera newsroom employee wrote in an e-mail message. “All dissident voices disappeared from our screens.”

The employee noted that coverage of Saudi Arabia was always politically motivated at Al Jazeera — in the past, top management used to sometimes force-feed the reluctant news staff negative material about Saudi Arabia, apparently to placate the Qatari leadership. But he added that the recent changes were seen in the newsroom as an even more naked assertion of political will.

“To improve their relations with Qatar, the Saudis wanted to silence Al Jazeera,” he wrote. “They got what they wanted.”

One of the things that make interpreting news from Arab news outlets difficult is having to know the spin that these sources use to begin with and filtering out the lies. Minstream journalists don't even seem to try.
(h/t EBoZ)

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (XI)

From Ma'an:

Ma'an journalist Hafith Asakra was kidnapped on Saturday evening by five masked gunmen as he headed to work at Ma'an's main office in Bethlehem.

The abductors bound his hands and legs, detaining him for 12 hours.

They demanded to use his Ma'an password to post a fictitious news story, aimed at stirring up trouble between Ma'an and the Palestinian factions and security services.

He refused to give in to his abductors' demands.

Keep in mind, this isn't Gaza. This is the "safe" section of the PA-controlled territories.

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (X)

A British reporter details three incidents where Hamas stopped him from doing his job - and yet he still does everything he can to softpedal it.

From the Times (UK):

"I was arrested by Hamas"
Today I was detained while watching a demonstration by female students Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip.

They had gone on strike at noon in protest against the killings in the rally yesterday, and they had made their way to a nearby police station where they were singing and chanting. In particular, they yelled: 'Shia, Shia, Shia,' which is a reference to Hamas being funded by Iran.

Within a few minutes, baton-wielding police laid into the girls. Some fell to the ground, but most ran away.

As this was happening, some other members of the police force grabbed me and dragged me into a cell. They pushed me against the wall, and one of the officers shouted: 'Hit him, hit him, hit him' in Arabic.

They snatched the camera from me, and one of the police officers urged his colleagues to break my camera. Then, my cameraman was dragged into the room too.

Another police officer, more senior than the others, eventually arrived and insisted on viewing the videotape that my cameraman had. I kept telling them that I was a journalist and that I would telephone the chief of police unless I was released, and eventually they did so.

Today's incident follows two previous incidents yesterday, in which my activities as a journalist were deliberately curtailed.

The first took place just as gunfire erupted at the Gaza City demonstration yesterday. We were filming police officers standing by their station, when several officers rushed over, fired shots in the air, snatched my camera and dragged me into the police station, where they threatened to smash my camera and hit me.

When I convinced them that I was a British journalist they let me go, but only after telling me to leave the area.

The second incident took place shortly afterwards when I went to the Shifa Hospital where those wounded in the fighting were being taken.

While we were filming, the police arrived at the hospital. They had orders to clear the hospital of all cameramen, and they took my camera. The officer who seized my equipment was very polite to me. He told me that I would be able to get the camera back only if I went to the police station in an hour and a half's time.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the press to operate in the Gaza Strip. This is very much a reflection of the high level of tension that exists at the moment.

But by comparison with some of the treatment I've had in other parts of the world, this was relatively mild.

Of course, this intrepid reporter didn't bother to ask the obvious question: if a British journalist is treated this way, how is Hamas treating Arab journalists?

A correspondent for the Ramallah-based Palestine radio was attacked and beaten by the de facto government's police in Gaza City while he was covering the Fatah-organized rally in Gaza City marking the third anniversary of the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in which seven people were killed and scores injured, he told Ma'an via telephone.

Thirty-year-old Tamim Abu Mu'ammar told Ma'an that he was trying to send a report by telephone to the Palestine radio in Ramallah about the attacks on the rally when the de facto government's police beat him with clubs and rifle butts.

He said they searched his cell phone and ordered him to leave the scene, threatening to attack him if they saw him again.

Mu'ammar said his whole body was covered in bruises.

PCHR adds:

The police also chased rally participants and beat them with batons and sticks. In the meantime, several journalists were attacked, including:

- Khaled Jamal Bolbol, a photographer for Zoom Press. He was beaten and his camera was broken and confiscated.

- Mohammad Sawalha, a photographer for Abu Dhabi Satellite Station. He was detained and his camera tape was confiscated.

- Mowafaq Matar, a journalist for Al-Hayat Newspaper. He was detained and pictures were erased from his camera.

Palestine Press Agency reports that more journalists were arrested last night by Hamas.

Business as usual in Hamastan.

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (IX)

The moderate PA "security" forces have arrested the director of Al-Amal TV today. The Ma'an News website has shut down in solidarity and shows this message:

Palestinian security arrests Mu'taz Al-Kurdi, member of Ma'an's board of directors and director of Al-Amal TV in Hebron

Ma'an News Agency expresses its deep disappointment and indignation at arrests of journalists.

Al-Amal TV suspended it's broadcast on Friday in protest of the detention of their director.

Ma'an also announces the suspension of its work in protest. Several of Ma'an's local partners in TV and radio will also halt their broadcasts today in protest and solidarity with our colleague Mu'taz Al-Kurdi and Al-Amal TV.

Things are right on schedule for creating a Palestinian Arab state in Annapolis!

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (XIII)

Hamas just arrested another journalist:

Palestinian security services, affiliated to the de facto government in the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday seized the director of Palestine TV, Fayiq Jarada. 'Security reasons' were stated as a pretext for the apprehension.

The ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip alleged that Jarada was detained because he was filming too close to a security post in Gaza City, along with other photojournalists and cameramen.

The ministry claimed that Jarada was filming Palestinian security personnel in order to send their images to the Fatah-affiliated caretaker government in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

The committee for defending journalists within the government will secure the fair trial of Jarada, said the interior ministry, as agreed by the ministry of information in Gaza.

Well, at least he will get a fair trial before he is tortured and his body dumped.

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (XII)

Today it is Fatah's turn to threaten and beat journalists.

From Ma'an (autotranslated):

has seen the area around Hebron University today, Sunday, clashes between the Palestinian security services and students belong to the Islamic bloc Hamas, intervened when settling devices student conference held in front of the university students bloc.

Al "Ma'an" that the university administration refused Conference held inside the university campus, owing to the suspension of the study today, which made a request to Hamas held in the street in front of the university, and then intervened by security agencies rushed Badd using big sticks and batons to disperse them, which led to a number casualties among students and arresting others.

Security agencies and assaulted a number of journalists and newspaper photographers, and prevented them from covering the event.

Our correspondent reported that the security forces detained correspondents and photographers working with local media and global levels, and prevented them from using cellular phones or cameras, and after the intervention of the Hebron area commander Brigadier corner Samih summer, allowed for workers in the media to exercise their work, but that security agencies took assaulting them again and to prevent them from performing their work.

The devices physically assaulted a photographer Reuters applies Jamal, and his colleague, safe and Zooz, photographer USAID "AP" Nasser Alchioukhi, photographer and the French news agency Hazem Bader, and television cameraman hope in Hebron Imad reply, where he was transferred to Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron for treatment.

The medical sources at Al-Ahli hospital, the reporters were some bruises after being assaulted with batons and their health reassuring.

Condemned applies Jamal photographer Reuters by security agencies stroke beaten his colleagues, after giving him permission for photography in the region.

Ma'an names the journalists who were beaten, including those from AP and Reuters. So how do the wire services cover the story?

AP mentions it incidentally:

The security also forbade journalists from taking pictures, confiscating the camera of one photographer, witnesses said. Some journalists were also beaten.

As of this moment, Reuters and AFP have not covered this story at all - neither the demonstration with Fatah beating students nor Fatah beating journalists. It looks like the combination of supporting the Fatah thugs as "moderates" and being intimidated by them allows Arab terrorists, once again, to minimize negative coverage of their violence.

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (XI)

More details on this morning's festivities specifically concerning journalists who tried to cover the Fatah protest rallies:

Across Gaza, seven journalists covering the clashes were beaten and two of them were later detained, witnesses and reporters said. Two Associated Press staffers and another news photographer were also briefly detained by Hamas men.
In Jebaliya, the Hamas security men ordered journalists to stop filming and move away.
One security officer told reporters, "If a single shot is on TV, you know what will happen." He then drew his finger across his throat. At one point a Hamas security man tried to take a photographer's camera.
"I identified myself as a journalist and showed him my card, my journalist card, I told him, 'If you want the tape take the tape, I don't care,' but they kept on beating me and took the camera," Muhammad Abu Sido, a cameraman for a Palestinian news service, told AP Television News.
Similar incidents of harassment against journalists took place during previous weeks' Fatah protests.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman in charge of coordinating media coverage, said the reports of harassment of journalists "were individual cases and won't be repeated," and that he was working to free the detained reporters.

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (X)

The series continues...

In this edition, it is Fatah who threatened journalists. From Ma'an (Arabic, autotranslated):

A journalist bloc said that three Palestinian journalists received death threats from groups Fatah movement, believing that these threats represent bankruptcy nationally and morally.

It accused the Bloc of them said, "Samih Asa'ad groups" to send each of these threats Chief Editor of "Palestine" local journalist Mustafa Sawaf, director of the Office of the Press home, and board member of the bloc, the Palestinian journalist Imad Abdel-Quds newspaper correspondent and local journalist Ahmad Muchehrawi.

Freedom of the press, PalArab-style (IX)

The series continues....
From AP via Jpost:

Hamas militiamen tried to arrest a prominent Palestinian journalist late Saturday, but left the scene at the urging of Hamas political leaders after a group of reporters blocked the force from entering the man's home.

The attempted arrest of Agence France Press reporter Sakher Abu El Oun came a day after Hamas beat a group of journalists covering a demonstration protesting the Islamic militant group's rule in the Gaza Strip. Abu El Oun, who heads the Gaza journalists' union, harshly criticized the Hamas crackdown.

About 15 Hamas security men arrived at his home late Saturday, saying they had orders to arrest him. Abu El Oun called some colleagues, who rushed to the scene and formed a human chain around the home.

Within minutes, officials from the office of deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas official in Gaza, arrived to end the standoff. The officials persuaded the militiamen to leave, calling the incident a "misunderstanding."

"Everything has been settled and freedom of speech and journalism is respected," said Taher Nunu, a spokesman for Haniyeh.

AFP did not immediately comment.