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October sees highest number of Israel attacks on Palestinian media

November 10, 2017 at 9:12 am

The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) monitored 28 violations against media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territory during October, 27 of which were carried out by Israeli forces, according to a statement released by the group on Wednesday.

According to the group, the number of violations committed by Israeli forces increased from 22 in September to 27 during October, all of which were “serious attacks”. The statement added that the violations in October constituted the most serious of all violations of media freedoms in the territory recorded since the beginning of 2017.

Israeli violations of media freedoms in October included storming 10 offices and headquarters of Pal Media, Trans Media and Ramsat media companies in the occupied cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem and Nablus, “confiscating their property and turning 94 journalists and employees working in these institutions jobless,” MADA said.

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“Not only did these companies lose their work… but they have also endured heavy losses of equipment as a result of the destruction and confiscation of property,” MADA said, adding that these media companies used to provide at least 15 local, Arab and foreign TV channels with media services.

The Israeli occupation forces arrested four Palestinian journalists during October, two of whom were working for Trans Media, and were arrested during the raid on the company’s offices.

Palestinian government violations continued to decline, dropping from four violations in September to one single violation during October, MADA said.