A cross-party group of 20 Members of the European Parliament co-signed a petition jointly organized by Euro-Med Monitor and Reporters without Borders (RSF) demanding that Israel ensures the freedom of movement of Palestinian journalists.
The petition follows a report that Euro-Med Monitor released in November last year entitled “Punishing Journalists: Israel’s Restrictions on Freedom of Movement”. The report documented the claims of multiple Palestinian journalists that Israeli authorities heavily restricted their freedom of movement in out and between Gaza the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a form of punishment or bargaining chip.
The report reveals how Israeli security services have used travel bans to coerce Palestinian journalists into collaborating against fellow Palestinians or to refrain from working with certain media outlets or reporting on certain topics. Some journalists further claim that after refusing Israeli authorities’ demands they have been subject to different forms of intimidation and harassment including home raids arbitrary detention and harsh interrogations.
The petition expressed serious concern regarding Israeli authorities’ use of arbitrary restrictions such as travel bans detentions or home break-ins against Palestinian journalists. “Such measures pose a serious threat to the independence of Palestinian journalism and to freedom of speech and expression in the occupied Palestinian territories” the petition read.
The co-signing MEPs called on Israel to lift all arbitrary travel bans against Palestinian journalists in Gaza the West Bank and East Jerusalem and “cease any other forms of harassment intimidation or blackmail against them.”
In addition the petition demanded that Israel carries out “a transparent and independent investigation into the incidents in which Israeli officers threatened to deny Palestinian journalists their right to travel unless they work with the Israeli public security and intelligence services and provide security information.”
In a webinar co-organized by Euro-Med Monitor and RSF on Tuesday Member of the European Parliament Margrete Auken said “it is very clear that journalists are being punished for doing their work. This is one of Israel’s brutal violations against media and journalists and these practices are part of the broader violations of apartheid and occupation against Palestinians in general. It is clear that the EU countries are not shouldering their responsibilities towards Israeli violations”
In December Euro-Med Monitor and RSF launched the campaign #LetMajdoleenOut on social media. The two organizations called for an immediate end to the Israeli travel bans that prevent dozens of Palestinian journalists including Majdoleen Hassona winner of RSF Press Freedom Prize for Independence from leaving the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
