(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, RSF protested the assault on Palestinian photographer Atta Oweisat by Israeli policemen, and the shooting at other Palestinian journalists during the clashes in recent days. The organisation called on the prime minister “to refer the matter to the competent authorities […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, RSF protested the assault on Palestinian photographer Atta Oweisat by Israeli policemen, and the shooting at other Palestinian journalists during the clashes in recent days. The organisation called on the prime minister “to refer the matter to the competent authorities so that an inquiry is opened into these assaults and the people responsible are punished”. “These acts of violence against Palestinian journalists who are simply doing their work must stop,” added RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, on 4 October 2000, Oweisat, a photographer for the Israeli press agency Zoom 77, was beaten by Israeli policemen with clubs while covering a Palestinian demonstration in Jabel Moukaber, near Jerusalem. He was taken to hospital. Previously, on 29 September, the following journalists were injured by shots fired by Israeli soldiers: Khaled al-Zeghary, a freelance journalist; Hazem Bader, a cameraman with the Associated Press (AP) news agency; Mahfouz Abu-Turk, a freelance photographer, and Awad Awad, a photographer with the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. On 1 October in Hebron, cameraman Amer al-Jabari was shot in the head and hospitalised. On 2 October, also in Hebron, Israeli soldiers shot at Mazen Da’na and Lu’ay Abu-Haikal, journalists with the Reuters news agency, and Wael al-Shiokhy, journalist with the local television station TV Al-Nawras.
