The Committee to Support Journalists renewed, today, Wednesday, its appeal to all international institutions to pressure the Israeli occupation government and its settlers to stop their repeated attacks on Palestinian journalists.
In a statement, the committee indicated that the occupation fired live and rubber bullets, poison gas bombs, beating, kicking and shoving while journalists were performing their media duties, in addition to attacking settlers with sticks and fierce dogs on a group of photojournalists, to prevent them from covering the peaceful marches, the last of which was yesterday, Tuesday, during their coverage. A peaceful march that denounced the “flags march” of settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
In a statement, the committee denounced the occupation forces´ arrest of the freed prisoner Walid Khaled, after raiding and searching his house in the village of Iskaka, Salfit, noting that he spent more than 20 years in the occupation prisons.
It also denounced the occupation forces´ attack on Reuters photojournalist Moussa Al-Qawasmi, Radio Baladna cameraman Safiya Omar, and Abdel-Rahman Hassan during their coverage of the suppression of the Israeli occupation forces in the city of Bethlehem, for a peaceful march that denounced the "Flags March".
Extremist settlers assaulted Liwa Abu Rumaila, a correspondent for "Palestine Today" channel, and she was assaulted several times during the same month, during the "Flags March".
Two days ago, the occupation forces targeted freelance photographer Samir Sharif with a sound bomb and pepper gas sprays, while they beat the correspondent of “Al-Quds” channel, Renad Al-Sharbati, and the correspondent of “Palestine Today” channel, Liwa Abu Rumaila, while covering the confrontations that erupted between its members and Palestinian youths after a member entered Right-wing Israeli Knesset Itamar Ben Gvir at Bab al-Amoud in Jerusalem.
The Journalists Support Committee also condemned the continued restrictions on the work of journalists and photographers in Jerusalem, specifically in the “Sheikh Jarrah” neighborhood, as it prevented those who hold press cards issued by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the International Press Card from entering the neighborhood, after the occupation forces turned it into a security zone. By erecting its checkpoints and posting its members at its entrances, it allowed entry only to Palestinian journalists who hold cards issued by the Israeli government press office, which are carried by a small percentage of Palestinian journalists and photographers.
The committee stressed that the occupation soldiers deliberately target journalists, especially photographers, and disregard all international conventions that call for respect for freedom of the press.
The Committee to Support Journalists called on the Union of Arab Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and all institutions of the international community to take serious and effective steps to stop the suffering of Palestinian journalists as a result of the repeated violations of the occupation and its settlers against them.
