NGOs and human rights groups have documented violence against Palestinian journalists for decades. Israel, the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

, Islamic Jihad and others have utilized violence against Palestinian journalists, which has resulted in Palestine being ranked 156th out of 180 countries in the 2023

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

Press Freedom Index The World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is an annual ranking of Country, countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002 based upon the non-governmental organization's own assessment of the countries' Freedom of the ...

. The

Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...

remains the greatest source of violence against Palestinian journalists. Palestinian journalists reporting from the

occupied territories Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling powe ...

have witnessed restrictions and risks, especially during the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

s which started in 1987 and 2000 respectively, and the ongoing

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

. The year 2023 saw record numbers of Palestinian journalists arrested and killed by the

Israeli military The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, an ...

Freedom House Freedom House is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, Freedom (political), political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, wi ...

has stated that in both the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, journalists are surveilled and threatened by both Palestinian and Israeli authorities. In 2022, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom found 605 violations against media freedom, with 69% to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Violence from Israel

The period of the

between 2000 and 2005 put Palestinian journalists and camera operators at heightened risks, including military closures, confiscation of equipment, prevention from reporting on certain incidents and locations, curfews, and arrests. The

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

documented that nine Palestinian journalists were killed by the Israeli military between 2000 and 2009, some of them were described as targeted attacks, which Israel denies. The

killing Killing, Killings, or The Killing may refer to: Types of killing *-cide, a suffix that refers to types of killing (see List of types of killing), such as: ** Homicide, one human killing another *** Murder, unlawful killing of another human without ...

of Palestinian-American journalist and

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

reporter by the Israeli military,

Shireen Abu Akleh Shireen Abu Akleh (; April 3, 1971 – May 11, 2022) was a prominent Palestinian-American journalist who worked as a reporter for 25 years for Al Jazeera Media Network, Al Jazeera, before she was Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, killed by Israeli ...

, in 2022 gained widespread coverage globally; she is widely considered an icon of Palestinian journalism. Graffiti of Shireen Abu Akleh in Nazareth

Graffiti of Shireen Abu Akleh in Nazareth

The IDF and Israeli settlers regularly uses violence against Palestinian journalists. A CPJ report in 2000 stated that there had been "dozens of violent attacks against Palestinian journalists by

Israeli settlers Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

or military forces in the occupied territories (throughout the 1990s)." Human rights groups sent reports to the ICC for 4 journalists who had been killed or injured by the IDF between 2015 and 2019. Reporter Without Borders has sent three complaints to the ICC regarding journalist killings by the IDF since 2018. Media offices were bombed in Gaza in 2021 by the IDF, despite housing multiple press offices. The

killing of Shireen Abu Akleh On 11 May 2022, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering a raid by the Israel Defense Forces at the Jenin refugee camp. Witnesses, along with the Qatari media network Al Jazeera, for which Abu Akle ...

by IDF forces received significant media attention in 2022. A Palestinian media watchdog found 407 violations (~42% physical assaults) against Palestinian journalists by Israeli occupation in 2015. The same watchdog found in their 2022 report, that 416 violations were committed by the Israeli occupation (~29% physical assaults). In 2015, Israeli journalists decried the government closing of Arab news stations serving Palestinians and

Arab Israelis The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

Use of Administrative Detention against Journalists

Israel has been claimed to charge Palestinian journalists with incitement for press coverage, usually through administrative detentions.

+972 Magazine ''+972 Magazine'' is an Israeli left wing news and opinion online magazine, established in August 2010 by a collective of four Israeli writers in Tel Aviv. Noam Sheizaf, a co-founder and the ''+972'' chief executive officer, said they wanted to ...

reported in 2016 that Israeli security forces regularly arrest and use administrative detention against Palestinian journalists for incitement, but do not use administrative detentions against Israeli journalists publishing similarly incendiary materials. In 2016, Palestinian Prisoner Society was quoted as saying that 25 Palestinian journalists were imprisoned, with 7 under administrative detention. Journalist Muhammad al-Qiq received international attention for protesting his administrative detention in 2016 with a 94-day

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

. He was subsequently administratively detained again in 2017 and protested with a 32-day hunger strike.

2023 War in Gaza

During the 2023 war in Gaza, the IDF has been criticized for its significant killing of journalists in Gaza. The CPJ, in the context of the Gaza war, placed Israel on a list of "worst jailers of journalists". 2023 saw record numbers of arrests of Palestinian journalists by the

in the Israeli-occupied

, where journalists face risk of assault by the Israeli and Palestinian law enforcements and from attacks by

. The Gaza Strip meanwhile, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, is considered to be one of the "most perilous places" to be a journalist, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Since the beginning of the

, which broke out on 7 October 2023, many dozens of Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel; 70% of journalists killed worldwide in 2023 have been Palestinian. Many of the deaths have been caused by Israeli airstrikes.

Violence from Palestinian Authority and Palestinian groups

Though the

remains the greatest source of violence against Palestinian journalists, Palestinian journalists are also reliant on the PA for financial and political support, which can lead to violence and suppression. The PA received criticism in 2000 for allegedly attempting to censor footage of the Ramallah lynchings. Anecdotes of arrest and interventions (''tadakhkhulat'') by the PA for unfavorable coverage are common, such as threats, detainments, destruction of equipment or worse. One commentator, Hani al-Masri, states that after the occupation, the second threat against Palestinian journalism is the "split inside the Palestinians etween Fatah and Hamas, followed by lack of resources and infrastructure. One Palestinian media scholar, Juman Quneis, states that “The laws are too weak to protect anyone, especially journalists. Any security group can go and arrest a journalist from their home without even a warrant, a notice, anything legal.” Human Rights Watch has posted a report documenting several cases of attacks and physical abuse against journalists by the PA. A qualitative study of journalists in the West Bank and Gaza suggests that due to the split, there is a fear of surveillance and censorship by both political parties in the occupied territories. In 2012, the PA detained journalist Yousef al-Shayeb after he wrote about corruption of the PA diplomatic mission to France. According to Reporters Without Borders, "Hamas and the Islamic Jihad harass and obstruct journalists suspected of collaborating with Israel". Yasser Murtaja was killed by Israeli fire in 2015, but had previously also been attacked and beaten by Hamas in 2015 while filming.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

has posted a report documenting several cases of attacks and physical abuse against journalists by authorities in Gaza.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book, first1=Mohammed, last1=Abualrob, first2=Diana, last2=Alkhayyat, chapter=Case 2: Palestine—New Media, Same Old Political Agenda, editor1-last=Kalyango, editor1-first=Yusuf, editor2-last=Mould, editor2-first=D., title=Global Journalism Practice and New Media Performance, year=2014, publisher=Springer, pages=38–49, isbn=, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HYSoBAAAQBAJ, access-date=2 April 2024, archive-date=6 April 2024, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406211827/https://books.google.com/books?id=HYSoBAAAQBAJ, url-status=live

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

Journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...