Israeli restrictions of press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

SPECIAL REPORTS FROM PALESTINE

Reporting Harassment

(JMCC, pp 64, August 1989)

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Contents

I. Introduction

II. The Palestinian press

1. Military regulations
2. Restrictions on Licensing of Newspapers

Obtaining Publishing Licenses
Suspension and Revocation of Publishing Licenses

3. Restrictions on Distribution of Publications

Obtaining Distribution Permits
Suspension of Distribution Permits
Interference with Delivery

4. Restrictions on Access to Information

Closure of Press Offices
Restrictions on Movement
Cutting of Telephone Lines
Denial of Official Recognition

5. Restrictions on Published Material: Censorship

The Censorship Process
Materials Censored
Effects of Censorship
Israel's Defense of Censorship

6. Harassment of Palestinian Journalists

Arrest and Detention
Deportation
Movement Restrictions
Military Summons and Arbitrary Delays
Violent Attacks
Raids on Newspaper and Press Offices

7. Palestinian Journalists' Assessment of Israeli Policy

"Silencing Palestinian Political Expression"
"The Tiny Margin: Freedom of the Press under Occupation"
"The Role of the Palestinian Press"

III. The Foreign Press

1. Restrictions on access to information

Curfews and Closed Military Areas
Gagging the Palestinian Press
Creating Distrust - Endangering the Press

2. Restrictions on Publications: Censorship

Regulations
Enforcement of Censorship and its Effect

3. Harassment in an Atmosphere of Hostility
4. Foreign Journalists Views on Israeli Policy

"Limiting the Damage"
"In Need of a Scapegoat"
"Unacceptable Practice and Faulty Logic

IV. Conclusion

Table of appendices

Appendix A1: Closure of Palestinian Newspaper & Press Offices
Appendix A2: Suspension of Distribution Licenses & Confiscation of Newspapers
Appendix A3: Closed Military Areas in Major West Bank Towns
Appendix A4: Arrest and Detention of Palestinian Journalists
Appendix A5: Compilation of Figures Regarding Detentions Recorded
Appendix A6: Deportation of Palestinian Journalists
Appendix Bl: Memo from the Censor
Appendix B2: British Defense (Emergency)

Regulations (1945)

Introduction

Since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in December of 1987, the Israeli military authorities have launched a concentrated campaign against the press. Palestinian newspaper and press offices have been raided and equipment has been confiscated. A number of offices have even been closed. The military censor has tightened his grip over Palestinian publications. All Palestinian newspapers have had their circulation restricted at least once within the last 19 months. Foreign journalists have been denied access to information by the Imposition of curfews and the declaration of closed military areas on a routine basis. Journalists of the Palestinian and foreign press corps have been attacked, beaten, and shot, as well as subjected to daily harassments from Israeli soldiers, police, settlers, and civilians. Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been further subject to arrest and detention without charges; still others have been deported.

This report offers an overview of the situation of the Palestinian and foreign press working in the Israel-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with an emphasis on the situation during the now 19-month hold Palestinian uprising. The report offers a brief examination of the multiple levels at which Israeli authorities Interfere with the press, Including: control over the granting of publishing and distribution licenses, interference with the gathering of Information, prepublication censoring, and Interference In distribution of publications. Examples of the types of harassment to which the press corps have been subject are also documented. Finally the report summarizes journalists' own assessment of the Israeli rationale behind the current policy towards the press.

The data presented In this report Is based primarily on interviews conducted with members of the Palestinian and foreign press between May and July 1989. Correspondents, photographers, editors, news bureau chiefs, and freelance journalists for newspapers, magazines, and television networks were interviewed. Editors from the three major Palestinian Arabic dallies, as well as the major Palestinian Arabic weekly paper, and the major Palestinian magazines, all of which are based in East Jerusalem, were among those interviewed. Editors from the East Jerusalem office for the only Israeli Arabic daily were also interviewed,' In addition to representatives of a number of the major permanent foreign newspaper and television agencies.2 All were asked to describe the situation which the press has faced since the start of the Palestinian uprising and to evaluate the general and specific effects of Israeli policy towards the press during the same period.

Additional information was taken from the local and foreign press, together with a number of other relevant publications.

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