Israel is holding sixteen Palestinian journalists behind bars

Sixteen Palestinian journalists are currently being detained by the Israeli occupation authorities, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club has revealed.

In a statement to Anadolu, the organisation said that the Israelis arrested Farouq Aliyat, the director of Palestine Today TV on Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The correspondent of Al-Fajr Al-Jadid TV, Sami Al-Sa’e, was arrested at the same time in Tulkarem.

According to the prisoners’ group, nine journalists are serving prison terms inside Israel, three are being held without charge or trial under administrative detention and four, including Aliyat, are still being detained on remand.

The Israeli occupation authorities closed the offices of Palestine Today TV in the occupied West Bank under the terms of an emergency law dating from 1945. In a statement reported by Anadolu, the Israeli occupation said that it had decided to close the station based on the emergency law introduced by the British Mandate government in 1945. No reasons were given for the closure, but it is believed to be because of Palestine Today’s affiliation with Islamic Jihad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged last week to crack down on the Palestinian mass media after claims that it incites terrorism and hatred against Israel.