HonestReporting has repeatedly reported on official harassment of journalists in the Palestinian areas. Though media outlets are claiming that CNN producer Riad Ali’s kidnapping was out of the ordinary for Gaza, this trend is changing, and the long arm of PA intimidation has in past months been reaching the Strip. Here are just a few of the events this past year:
March 2 2004 – Khalil al Zaban, editor of the monthly Al-Nashra, is murdered in Gaza City while working on an article critical of Gaza leader Mohammad Dahlan.
May 19 2004 – Former New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief James Bennet is the victim of an attempted kidnapping by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza City.
July 20 2004 – The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate warns that any reporter caught covering clashes between rival groups in Gaza will be ‘punished severely.’
August 9 2004 – Armed Palestinian militias in Gaza threaten to attack journalists working for Arab satellite stations due to their continued focus on the power struggle in the Palestinian Authority.
There are indications that Ali himself may have felt threatened even before his kidnapping, as he had recently spoken to CNN and colleagues about quitting his job, despite the opportunity it provided him.
Ongoing intimidation of journalists to report antiseptically on Palestinian corruption, misdeeds, and internecine fighting plagues not only the PA, but worldwide coverage of the Mideast conflict (see our recent report on Reuters’ regulating its language to appease terrorists). It is essential that the public insist on more honest reporting from the field, and that Yasser Arafat himself be called to task for allowing the intimidation to continue.
