Arab Journalists Condemn PA Media Terrorism

Al-Arabiya Reporter Beaten By Fatah Gunmen In Gaza

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, January 13, 2004

Journalists from Arab satellite TV stations have been condemned by the Palestinian Authority for displaying "insensitivity" to the cause of Palestinian nationalism and criticizing the PA, according to an investigative report by The Jerusalem Post.

Most serious of all, many still fail to refer to any Palestinian fighter killed by the IDF as a shaheed, or martyr, according Yussef al-Qazzaz, a senior official with the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation -- who particularly directed his criticism toward the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.

Last week, masked men from the PA’s governing Fatah movement assaulted and beat Seif A-Din Shahin, an Al-Arabiya reporter in Gaza following his broadcast on the Fatah anniversary celebrations in the coastal Strip a week earlier. Shahin, 35, said five gunmen fired warning shots into the air, intercepted his car, dragged him out, and beat him with the butts of their rifles for nearly 10 minutes.

On Monday dozens of Palestinian journalists held a demonstration in Gaza to protest the beating, keeping a vigil opposite the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council to protest what they termed the attempts of the PA to "terrorize the media."

It is not the first time a similar report has infuriated senior PA officials. A few months ago Al-Arabiya’s coverage of the power struggle at the top of the PA leadership between Chairman Yasser Arafat and his then Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas prompted Arafat to send masked gunmen from his Fatah-linked al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades to destroy the network’s Ramallah offices and beat up the workers there.

According to Qazzaz, Palestinian journalists have a duty to place the interests of their people above everything else and should take a leaf out of the book of the foreign press who remain careful not to alienate the PA.

His comments further confirm a long-established pattern of PA-sanctioned press intimidation, which Israel charges lies at the heart of their inability to secure fair representation in the international media.

"Most of the correspondents of the Arab TV and radio stations need to be educated politically and culturally about the internal [Palestinian] situation," said Qazzaz, adding that the task should fall to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, itself also in need of some ‘re-education.’

"The Ministry of Information should also be entrusted with educating these correspondents," he continued, "telling them which phrases are used in our political life. We don't understand why some Arab satellite stations are no longer using the term martyrs."

A spate of suicide bombings in Riyadh and other parts of Saudi Arabia has prompted Al-Arabiya to start referring to such attacks as terrorist actions, bringing the station into direct confrontation with the PA authorities. The move, they say, is designed to avoid glorification of gunmen and suicide bombers who attack Saudi interests.

This was the second time Shahin has been attacked by Fatah activists. A similar attack took place on December 21, 2001, in Gaza City, when he was working for another TV station. He was also arrested by PA security services on January 6, 2003, after reporting that Fatah had claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing.