Middle East Monitor / April 26, 2021
he Palestinian Journalists Syndicate yesterday condemned the escalation of attacks and prosecutions against Palestinian journalists which led to the arrest of three journalists and wounded five others.
The body said in a statement that the escalation is a message to the entire world that “the [Israeli] occupation’s oppression and crimes are continuing, which requires immediate international action to curb them.”
It demanded the immediate release of the journalists; Qutayba Qasim and Muhammad Ateeq, who were arrested on Friday at a military checkpoint north of the occupied city of Jerusalem and all other journalists detained by Israel.
Five journalists have recently been attacked by Israeli occupation forces while performing their duties, it said, naming them as Khaled Bedir who suffered an injury to his foot after a tear gas canister struck him while he covered a night march in Tulkarm on Saturday, and Palestine TV correspondent and cameraman Osaid Sobeih and Bilal Jabareen who were attacked while covering a night march near the city of Al-Bireh.
The statement added that journalist Hafez Abu Sabra was injured by a tear gas canister in the chest while covering a night march at Huwara checkpoint, south of Nablus, while journalist Rajai al-Khatib was hit by a metal bullet that broke his foot while covering events near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem.
The syndicate expressed its grave concern over the life of journalist Alaa al-Rimawi, who was transferred to the hospital five days after his arrest as a result of the hunger strike he launched upon his detention.
Such attacks, it said, will not deter journalists from performing their professional and national duties.
