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PRESS RELEASES 2000
Jerusalem, February 21, 2000
Palestinian and Israeli
intelligence cooperate to silence journalist
The Palestinian journalist Khaled Amayreh has been summoned
by both the Palestinian Authority General and the Israeli
District Coordination Office (DCO). Amayreh was questioned
on the content of the Hebron Times, a newly launched
weekly newspaper where Amayreh is Editor-in-Chief. He
received threats of closure of the paper if he did not write
favourable articles about President Arafat.
On February 11, Palestinian Authority (PA) General
Intelligence officers summoned Amayreh to a “meeting” where
he
was questioned on an editorial he wrote on the Palestinian
refugees’ right to return, arguing that no body has the
right to
give up on that right because it is “personal in nature,
absolute and inalienable”.
Amayreh was accused of doubting the PA’s commitment to the
refugees’ cause and inciting the refugees against the
leadership. The PA General Intelligence officers gave
Amayreh the message that the PA Press Law of 1995 was not
applicable in his case, as “the intelligence has its own
laws”. One officer threatened to close the newspaper, and
said: “I’ll
burn it down if you continue to criticise the government”.
On February 15, Amayreh was summoned by an Israeli District
Coordination Office official, and questioned on the same
issue. The official argued that Amayreh’s editorials
instigated the PA to take tougher stance on the refugees’
issue.
Amayreh was again warned, as he was by the PA Intelligence,
against incitement. The Israeli interrogator “reminded” him
that Israel was still in control all over the area.
The day after, Amayreh was again summoned to the PA General
Intelligence, in order to brief them on what the Israelis
wanted. He was asked to publish material favourable to
president Arafat in his newspaper. They were claiming that
the
paper in its current form was unacceptable, warning again
that they would close the paper.
The PHRMG strongly reject any threats made against
Palestinian independent journalists and editors by the
Palestinian
Authority or the Israeli authority in order to stiffle their
voices. We find the actions taken against Khaled Amayreh and
Hebron Times as severely aggravating. PHRMG further protest
strongly against all collaboration between Palestinian and
Israeli officials to stiffle all independent news reporting
in the Palestinian Autonomous Areas. We fully support Khaled
Amayreh in his decision not to be intimidated by these
efforts, and his work for more press freedom.
The PHRMG call for the immediate implementation of the
Palestinian Press Law of 1995, approved by President Arafat,
in the cases of Palestinian journalists summoned by the
Palestinian police, security or intelligence forces. The
1995 Press
Law prohibits security agencies from questioning,
interrogating, detaining, interning or arresting a
Palestinian journalist on
matters pertaining to his journalistic profession.
Below, please find the testimony of Khaled Amayreh.
For more information, contact the PHRMG office: Tel: 972 2
6262463, 972 2 6263886 Fax: 972 2 6262378, E-mail:
admin@phrmg.org
Testimony by Khalid Amayreh
My name is Khalid Amayreh. I am a Palestinian Journalist
based in the West
Bank town of Hebron. I am Editor-in-Chief of the
newly-launched weekly
newspaper, "Akhbar al Khalil" or "Hebron Times" of which two
issues have so
far been published. In addition to that, I work as a free
lance journalist
for a number of news agencies, journals, and Internet
web-sites in
Palestine, the Arab world, and Europe.
On 9 February, a person from the Palestinian Authority
General
Intelligence (GI) asked me by telephone to go to his office
in Hebron to
"drink a cup of coffee with them." He said he wanted to chat
with me about
"a couple of important matters." First he told me to report
to the GI
office in Dura ( 10 miles south west of Hebron) at 10:00 am,
Thursday.
However, when I went to the said office in Dura, I was told
to go to
Hebron on Saturday, 11 February, at 10:00 am.
So, on 11 February, I went to GI's headquarters in Hebron,
where I met a
number of intelligence officers, some of whom were college
students I had
taught at the Hebron University in the 1980s. One questioned
me on the
content of the Hebron Times, and actually started reading
from a copy of
the second issue of the "Hebron Times" before him.
The questioning initially centered on a last-page editorial
I wrote
asserting the Palestinian refugees' right of return. In the
editorial,
entitled "the right of return first and last" I argued that
no body, not
even the Palestinian leadership, has any right to concede,
give up, or
compromise that right, which I described as "personal in
nature , absolute
and inalienable."
The interrogator accused me of "doubting our leadership's
commitment to
the refugees' cause" and suggested that I was "inciting the
refugees
against the leadership."
He also charged that the overall tone of the paper was
incompatible with
the Palestinian Authority's line, adding that this was
unacceptable. At one
point, he threatened to close down the paper if I continued
to feature
materials critical of the PA.
He said "I'll burn it down if you continue to criticize the
authority."
The interrogator told me that the main captions, titles, and
subtitles of
the paper were provocative, even though he conceded they
were neither
misleading nor inaccurate. He warned though that I should
refrain from
printing captions as such, "if you are interested in not
seeing your paper
closed down."
I reminded him that the Press Law, which was endorsed and
approved by PA
Chairman Yaser Arafat in 1995, clearly prohibits security
agencies from
questioning , interrogating , detaining, interning, or
arresting a
Palestinian journalist on matters pertaining to his
journalistic
profession.
To this, the interrogator simply said "you know the
intelligence has its
own laws." I protested the flagrant violation of the law by
the GI, but to
no avail. I told him I felt embittered by the fact that I
was being
summoned by the Israeli and Palestinian intelligence
services on the same
issue of press freedom. However, simply told me "forget
about press
freedom, press freedom is meaningless here." Another GI
operative, who was
present, said half-jokingly "this is how things work in the
first seventy
years of statehood."
On Tuesday, around 9:00, I was summoned by an Israeli
District
Coordination Office (DCO) official, who identified himself
as Captain
Adel. He said he wanted to chat with me on the Hebron Times.
When I arrived
at his office, near the settlement of Hagai, on the southern
outskirts of
Hebron, he asked me about the editorial policy of the paper
and if I
subscribed to the ideology of the Islamist groups, such as
Hamas. I told
him that I had no formal or informal connections with any
political party,
including Hamas. He also insinuated that my editorials
instigated the
PA to take a tougher stance on the refugees' issue.
I retorted that I only underlined the PA's declared position
on the issue,
namely UN resolution 194. He argued that the PA was only
adopting position
for local consumption and that I was effectively warning the
PA against
retreating from this position. The Israeli interrogator
warned me against
incitement, reminding me, in a tacit manner, that Israel was
still in
control all over the area.
On Wednesday, the PA' GI summoned me again, apparently in
order to brief
them on my conversation with the Israeli officer.
After I told them of what happened, they told me that I
should publish in
the paper material favorable to President Arafat. They
claimed that the
paper in its current form was unacceptable since it featured
views close to
those held by the Palestinian Islamist opposition. They told
me that an
independent paper shouldn't be critical of the PA. Again I
reminded them
that what they were doing, questioning me, was in violation
of the law.
Again, they scoffed at me, saying "where do you think you
are, in
Switzerland."
They also warned me again that they would close down the
paper if I
maintained the same tone. Finally, one of the officer was
audacious enough
to demand that I submit to him a draft of everything that we
print,
before it goes to the press. I rejected this outright,
saying I prefer to
terminate the paper immediately rather than budge to this
humiliating
demand.
I believe the two sessions of questioning, interrogations or
"chats," by
the PA and Israeli intelligence had one main purpose, that
is forcing me to
exercise self-censorship, the worst kind of censorship. But
I will not
budge, nor be intimidated, and will continue to push for
more press
freedom and, therefore, more democracy.
I call on all human rights organizations and international
bodies
defending the sublime principle of press freedom to show
solidarity with
me by exerting pressure on the PA and Israel in order to put
an end to
their persecution and harassment of me.
The struggle for press freedom is at the forefront of the
struggle for
democracy and true peace in Palestine. And we must win.
Khalid Amayreh, amayreh@p-ol.com
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