On 19 January, Israeli police Monday arrested pregnant journalist Joman Abu Arafeh as she was leaving the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to the Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA).
Earlier, on 14 January, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) launched ‘The Media in Gaza: Caught in the Crossfire’, a report on Israeli media violations during the July-August 2014 attack on Gaza.
MADA’s director general, Mousa Rimawi said: ‘We would like to see the unprecedented solidarity with Charlie Hebdo’s victims being expanded to include solidarity with the Palestinian journalists and journalists from all over the world. 2014 witnessed major violations against media freedoms, with the killing of 100 journalists, 17 of whom [died] in the Gaza Strip.’
During the August 2014 Israeli onslaught, according to MADA, Israeli attacks on Palestinian media freedom included: ‘killing, destroying media headquarters, damaging journalists’ houses, injuring journalists by bullets and bombing, arresting, preventing free movement, threatening and preventing coverage, detention, interrogation, and beating.’
For example, Israeli forces ‘destroyed Al Wataniya media agency headquarters while 35 journalists and staff were inside the building’.
Topics: Israel-Palestine, Media