Director of the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) Yehya Abu Hassan has outlined different ways to confront the persistent targeting of Palestinian news websites and social media platforms by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Abu Hassan made his remarks during the opening session of the three-day “Digital Media for Palestine Forum” which kicked off on Saturday in Istanbul under the theme “Policies of Digital Platforms on Palestine.”
Abu Hassan called for organizing popular campaigns that could influence decision-makers and exert pressure on Internet service providers to dissuade them from blocking Palestinian websites and social media pages.
He underlined the importance of communicating with international NGOs and establishing strategic partnerships with them to work together on getting decision-makers to reverse or limit the laws they use to prevent access to news on the Internet.
Another way to confront the blocking of news he said is to continue exposing Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians and debunk its claims and to find or create alternative platforms to serve the Palestinian cause.
However he stressed the need for not abandoning the use of global social media websites and platforms for they are still important tools to familiarize other peoples like in Malaysia Indonesia and India with the Palestinian cause.
The PIC director also talked about the exposure of journalists and media institutions to frenzied suppression campaigns by Israel and the PA in the West Bank and Jerusalem and highlighted the “cybercrime law” that was enacted by president Mahmoud Abbas and led to the blocking of 22 Palestinian websites including the PIC.
