Many press institutions demanded, on the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Journalists, which coincides the 26, September, each year, to protect Palestinian journalists and stop the continuous violations against them.
The Journalists Support Committee renewed its condemnation and denunciation of the direct and deliberate Israeli arbitrary practices which target journalists while doing their job to cover Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people.
“The Israeli occupation is turning the lives of 22 imprisoned journalists into hell by placing them in jails and cells that lack health conditions and safety measures, especially with the spread of the COVID19," the committee said.
Moreover, it warned against the Israeli ongoing violations against them, which have reached more than 290 since the start of 2020, including the arrest, the extension of several administrative detentions without charge, and deporting them under false pretenses.
"We call on international and human rights organizations to pressure Israel to release the journalists and media activists, who are still detained in the occupation jails, and to intervene to stop the policy of arresting and detaining for journalists while they are doing their journalistic duty," the committee stated.
Furthermore, it called for local, Arab and international practical campaign to expose Israel's practices against Palestinian journalists and demand to provide them the measure of safety to protect them from the “Corona” pandemic in the jails, in addition to protecting them during their press coverage in the field, as many of them do not have the protective equipment such as press vests, helmets, gas masks, and others.
The committee strongly condemned the Facebook continued attack against the Palestinian content, by imposing unjust restrictions as the Committee recorded 150 cases of violation on Facebook against the Palestinian content, which is considered a violation of the international law on freedom of expression.
In addition, it called on world journalists, unions, and national institutions to stand in solidarity and support the Palestinian journalists and the media outlets. It stressed the necessity to not involve them in the existing political conflict and enable them to freely practice their journalistic work, in respect of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
For its part, the Palestinian Media Forum affirmed that Israel is the first enemy of Palestinian journalists, which continues to target them in various ways and neglect international and humanitarian laws.
The forum reminded all international press institutions, led by the International Federation of Journalists, of their duties towards Palestinian journalists and to protect them from the Israeli attack, which continues to obliterate the truth and negate the Palestinian media message.
It appealed to the Union of Arab Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York, and Reporters Without Borders, to support the Palestinian journalist.
The forum asked human rights institutions inside and outside Palestine to work to pressure Israel to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to stop targeting journalists while carrying out their job.
It is worth mentioning that September 26 marks the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Journalists, initially declared by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in 1996, in which tens of Palestinian journalists were injured by Israeli forces while covering incidents and clashes in the Palestinian territory.
Source : Safa