On 27 January 2012, Israeli forces attacked the weekly Bi’lin village march protesting the separation wall, fired tear gas canisters on the journalists covering it, and one soldier shot rubber bullets at the photojournalist Moheeb al-Barghouty, injuring both his legs.
(ANHRI/IFEX) – Cairo, 2 February 2012 – ANHRI condemns the ongoing targeting of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli forces while performing their job, in a flagrant violation of freedom of opinion and expression. On 27 January 2012, Israeli forces attacked the weekly Bi’lin village march protesting the separation wall, fired tear gas canisters on the journalists covering it, and one soldier shot rubber bullets at the photojournalist Moheeb al-Barghouty, injuring both his legs.
This is not the first time al-Barghouty has been injured by the Israeli forces. He was injured several times as he was covering confrontations and weekly marches in the villages of Bi’lin, Ni’lin, and Nabi Saleh.
Journalists in Palestine suffer from severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli forces in the form of detentions, trials, and violence, such as physical attacks or the use of rubber bullets. Most recently, the detention of the media professional Amin Abu-Wardeh has been extended to five more days, with no explanation or indictment provided. The forces had detained Abu-Wardeh following a raid on his house in Nablus city.
On 31 January 2012, the Israeli military court of Ofer put off the trial of Raed Sharif, journalist and presenter of Marah local radio, to 22 February 2012 following a series of successive postponements. On 21 January 2012, the Israeli authorities inexplicably denied Mohamed Besharat, journalist, access to Jordan through al-Karama crossing. Besharat needed to travel in order to complete some procedures relating to his study abroad.
“The targeting of journalists by the occupation forces is part of an organized campaign aiming at gagging them from reporting the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people,” said ANHRI.
“Palestinian reporters perform their duty in reporting the atrocities of the occupation despite the oppression of its forces that are accustomed to using harassment and physical attacks on journalists to divert them from reporting the truth to the world,” added ANHRI.
