Awad Alrjoub believes the restriction is an attempt by the Israeli authorities to pressure Al-Jazeera to alter its coverage of Israeli practices in the Palestinian territories.
(MADA/IFEX) – 19 January 2011 – The Israeli occupation authorities barred West Bank Al-Jazeera Net correspondent Awad Alrjoub from traveling to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border crossing on the 17th of January 2011. The occupation forces offered no explanation to Alrjoub as to the reason for the restriction.
Alrjoub traveled to the Allenby Bridge intending to attend Al-Jazeera’s International Conference for Electronic Press in Doha, from the 19th-20th of January 2011. On arrival at Allenby, Alrjoub was surprised by the Israeli authorities’ decision to deny his right to travel.
Alrjoub said that he has traveled many times before without any problems and asserts that this incident is an example of a tactic employed by the Israeli authorities intended to pressure Al-Jazeera and its journalists into altering their coverage of Israeli practices in the Palestinian territories.
Banning Alrjoub from traveling is against Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the Israeli policy of barring journalists from foreign travel and moving between the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. MADA calls on the international community and international human rights organizations to exercise pressure on Israel to halt its practices against Palestinian journalists and allow them to travel and move freely.
