Report: Israeli violations against Palestinian journalists continue

A monthly report by the Palestinian Youth Media Assembly revealed that Israeli violations of press freedom continued in April, documenting at least 10 cases of assaults on journalists and the media in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The most notable of these cases include the arrest of journalist Majd Kayal at the Karama crossing as well as the arrest of Wafa news agency crew and confiscating their equipment. Anadolu news agency photojournalist Moaz Mashaal has also been shot at, while the Watan television channel in Ramallah was threatened to be shut down.

Israeli authorities threatened to close down Watan and requested it to immediately halt its work. Two years ago, Israeli occupation forces broke into the head office of Watan and confiscated its archive since 2002. The same channel was closed down in 2002 and had its archive since 1996 confiscated.

According to the report, Israel continues to imprison 11 Palestinian journalists, including Mahmoud Issa from Jerusalem who is serving three life sentences, Salah Awwad, who was arrested in 2001 and is serving a seven years sentence, and Ahmed al-Sifi, who was arrested in 2009 and serving a 19 years jail term.

Based on the above violations, the youth group called for defending journalists and putting an end to the clampdown on press freedom, and above all releasing journalists detained in Israeli prisons.