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Democracy and freedom
of expression seem to have different meanings in Israel when
it comes to Palestinians. The PHRMG is startled to notice
that since the start of the “al-Aqsa Uprising”, the
Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has not contacted
Palestinians to interview them about the events occurring in
the Palestinian areas. In contrast, interviews with Israeli
government officials are widely broadcasted, who support the
actions of the Israeli security forces – that are only
defending themselves and protecting “their” people –
and blame the Palestinians for stirring violence.
In the view of the
PHRMG, the IBA is one-sided in its coverage of the clashes
and the human rights violations that are being committed,
and ignores the voices of Israeli and Palestinian human
rights organizations. The IBA used to focus on human rights
violations committed by the Palestinian Authority, but
overlooked the matter when Israel was involved. Furthermore,
the PHRMG also raises some doubts as to the vocabulary used
in the context of the confrontations. For example,
Palestinian citizens of Israel are referred to as “Arab
residents”, a statement which obscures the fact that they
are full-right citizens of the State of Israel. The
vocabulary used to describe the clashes also seems to
minimize their importance.
The PHRMG is very
concerned by the bias of the IBA, and calls upon the Israeli
media to give a voice to both parties to the confrontations.
At this very critical time, it is the moral obligation of
the independent media to give Palestinians a chance to
express their demands other than just by throwing stones.
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