Call to postpone Palestinian journalists’ congress due to political interference
The International Federation of Journalists has called for a postponement of a historic Palestinian journalists’ union congress, because of undue political interference.
The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate announced on Wednesday that nominations were open for its leadership and a long overdue union conference will start soon afterwards.
The journalist union’s top committee said they would receive names for nomination from Saturday, January 30, 2010 until Monday, February 1, 2010.
In a statement to the Ma’an News Agency the syndicate said that Tuesday, February 2, 2010, would be the only day to contest nominations - and Friday, February 5, 2010, would see the start of the union’s congress.
Historic event for Palestinian journalists
This is a historic event. The first Palestinian journalist union election in over a decade.
The syndicate’s statement said the journalist union’s 5th conference would take place in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
While previously the International Federation of Journalists has called the upcoming conference a ‘historic opportunity’ for all Palestinian journalists to strengthen the union, and defend the rights of media workers, it has now released a statement calling for a short postponement.
IFJ calls for unity of Palestinian journalists ahead of much delayed Congress
After the Palestinian union issued a statement announcing the election, and the date for the Congress, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued their own statement calling on all Palestinian journalists to unite around their union ahead of the planned congress.
Aidan White
“We welcome the enthusiasm and commitment of the Palestinian journalists to reform their syndicate (PJS),” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “This congress is many years overdue and we are happy it is finally happening.”
Concerns among journalist community of undue political interference
The IFJ says, however, that there are concerns within the Palestinian journalists’ community because of undue political interference in the preparation of the PJS congress.
At the end of last year Fatah issued a statement clearly stating that there would be no political interference from them in the journalist union’s elections and congress.
At that time the Palestinian Authority’s Attorney-General was forced to back down from a threat to arrest the Palestinian journalist union leader Naim Toubassi, who is also a member of the IFJ Executive Committee.
Embezzlement charges ’simply ridiculous’ claims IFJ leader, Aidan White
Toubassi is threatened with three different legal proceedings, one was filed by members of the Journalists Syndicate executive, accusingd him of embezzlement of union funds. Aidan White from the IFJ has, in the past, dismissed as ‘ simply ridiculous’ the embezzlement charges.
The Ma’an News Agency reports that Palestinian courts repealed the arrest orders and said investigation into the issue would be postponed until the union could vote on the issue.
Fatah and Hamas misuse media to defame each other, threaten freedom of the press
The IFJ statement does not indicate where the ” political interference” is coming from.
Both Hamas and Fatah have manipulated the local media as a tool to attack each other and have been unconcerned that their actions undermined press freedoms and the building of a democratic civic culture. Local human rights groups and media commentators have regularly spoken about the way both sides use the media as a tool of instigation and defamation.
The local Independent Commission for Human Rights said recently they were concerned at the depth of the internal political division and the dangerous consequences on all fundamental rights and freedoms, because of the way the media was treated by Palestinian political groups.
Postpone conference to guarantee open, inclusive and unified union
The International Federation is calling for the postponement of the congress scheduled to be held on 5th February for a short period to allow journalists to put in place a structure acceptable to all which will guarantee an open and inclusive process leading to a unifying congress.
“We are deeply worried that the current process is unclear for many journalists,” added White, “The IFJ is ready to do what it can to insure that Palestinian journalists have full confidence in this preparation and we are committed to do all we can to ensure the success of this process.”
The IFJ says that its leadership is ready to organize an urgent mission to Palestine in order to help creating an agreement on holding the PJS Congress.
Fatah’s Central Committee member , Tawfiq At-Terawy, told Ma’an News Agency that he did not believe there was any political interference.
” The only interference is that the PLO’s commission of popular organization will be supervising the elections as it is the only reference for all the unions and organizations for many years,” he said.
Hamas banned last journalist union conference
Journalists eligible to participate in the conference number around 1,000, the syndicate said, from the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.
The last time the Palestinian journalist union tried to hold a national conference - in November 2009 - Hamas banned the meeting in their Gaza enclave.
At the time the Gaza-based Palestine Centre for Human Rights ( PCHR) condemned Hamas stopping the Gaza journalists meeting with their West Bank counterparts via video conference.
The PCHR called it ” an assault againt the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to peaceful assembly.”
Call for International Federation of Journalists to speak out for deported Ma’an News Agency chief
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate is affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) , alongside Israel’s Jerusalem Association of Journalists.
Meanwhile the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has recently called on the IFJ to intervene in the case of the deportation of Ma’an News Agency’s chief English editor last week, Jared Malsin.
In a statement issued the day after Jared Malsin’s expulsion last Wednesday, MADA said it considered “this act as a serious breach” in freedom of expression.
Malsin was detained at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on 12 January 2010. He was interrogated for eight hours in a detention hall during which time he had no access to a lawyer or to his consulate.
The IFJ - along with their Israeli and Palestinian journalist union affiliates, the Jerusalem Association of Journalists and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate - have already queried the Israeli government’s behaviour.
Israeli journalist union backs Palestinian union and their member
An Israeli affiliate of the IFJ- the Jerusalem Association of Journalists (JAJ) – has supported their Palestinian union colleagues and its member Jared Malsin, the Yale-educated American-Jewish journalist, who worked for one of the most reputable Palestinian media outlets.
“We do not know all the details of the charges against Jared Malsin,” said a statement from the JAJ just before the deportation. “But we certainly and clearly support the right of all journalists to report freely from Israel, irrespective of whether the reporting is favourable or unfavourable to the state of Israel.”
JAJ backs campaign to ensure Palestinian journalists enjoy equal levels of press freedom
The JAJ warned against campaigns which have a political motive and ” try to portray Israel as a state without media freedom.”
The JAJ has also backed efforts to ensure Palestinian journalists enjoy the same levels of press freedom as Israeli journalists and others from around the world.
“We are ready to work together with Palestinian journalists inside the framework of the IFJ to make sure that there will be no exceptions to the rights of journalists anywhere,” they said.
Read earlier reports on the TULIP website