10) Violations Against the Media and Journalists  

During the second year of the Uprising, the Israeli violations against the media and journalists escalated. The Israeli measures aimed at limiting the freedom of journalists and putting obstacles to prevent them from covering events that were taking place, especially in the Occupied Territories. In doing so, the Israeli authorities didn’t differentiate between Palestinian journalists and foreign media. Israel’s main goal was to isolate the Occupied Territories from the outside world, as a first step to hide the crimes that were committed against Palestinian civilians by the Israeli Army and by the Jewish settlers. The Israeli government also aimed at destroying the Palestinian media institutions. For example, on 19/1/2002, the Israeli Army bombarded and completely destroyed the official Palestine Radio and TV Station in Ramallah. Other local radio and TV stations, such as Amwaj, Watan and Peace and Love, face continuous attacks from the Israeli Army. By carrying out such attacks, the Israeli government is violating international treaties that provide protection for media workers and journalists.

Since the start of the Uprising in late September 2000, more than 300 cases of attacks committed by the Israeli Forces against journalists occurred, among them 4 cases of killing.  They were:

1.     Rafaele Ciriello, an Italian press photographer, killed on 13/3/2002 in Ramallah.

2.     Ahmad Bahjat al-Olami, killed on 18/3/2002.

3.     Imad Abu Zahra, killed on 12/7/2002 in Jenin.

4.     Isam Hamzeh Tallawi, killed on 21/09/2002 in Ramallah

Notice that all three of them were killed in the second year of the Uprising.

It is worth mentioning here that because of the Israeli closure on the Occupied Territories, the Palestinian daily newspapers do not appear on a daily basis, and when they are published, they are distributed in all the areas.

Israeli attacks against journalists included some reporters of Arab and foreign stations, such as Jasem al-Ghazawi, reporter of Abu-Dhabi TV satellite, who on 2/4/2002 was attacked by Israeli Forces and deported by force. Israel claimed that al-Ghazawi was issuing false reports criticizing the Israeli practices in the Occupied Territories.