Israel detains two journalists during West Bank raids

Israel detains two journalists during West Bank raids
Two journalists were detained in the occupied West Bank as Israel continues its assault on Palestinian press workers.
2 min read
06 August, 2018
Israeli forces detained Palestinian journalists [Getty]

Israeli forces detained two Palestinian journalists on Monday during raids in the occupied West Bank in a continued attack on Palestinian press workers.

Israeli forces detained TRT journalist Ibrahim Rantisi during raids early Monday after breaking into his house in the occupied city of Ramallah.

Journalist Nader Beibars, who worked for Palestine TV, was also held hours later in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel's attack on Palestinian media has intensified in recent weeks. A number of journalists in the West Bank have been detained, while a Palestinian TV channel has been shut down.

Over the past week, Israel has detained seven Palestinian journalists.

Last Monday, Israel detained four journalists on allegations that they worked for al-Quds TV channel, known to be sympathetic towards Hamas, a movement Israel regards as "terrorist".

One of those arrested was the director of al-Quds TV, Alaa Rimawi.

The wife of Alaa Rimawi, Mimouna Husam al-Din, told The New Arab: "Israeli forces raided our house in the al-Masaif neighbourhood of Ramallah, arrested Alaa and confiscated his phone, computer and car."

Local sources reported that clashes broke out in the neighbourhood between youths and Israeli forces, but no injuries were reported.

On Wednesday, Mohammed Hawa, the director of Nablus based radio station Hawa Nablus, was also detained.

In April, Reporters Without Borders accused Israel of deliberately targeting reporters in the besieged Gaza Strip after Yasser Murtaja, a journalist with the Gaza-based Ain Media was killed by an Israeli sniper whilst covering mass protests on the Gaza border crossing with Israel.

"Palestinian photographer Yasser Mourtaja was wearing a vest marked 'Press': he was obviously the victim of an intentional shot," said Christophe Deloire, the Secretary General of RSF, on Twitter at the time.

"RSF condemns absolutely the deliberate shooting of journalists by the Israeli army."

Deloire also accused Israel of being in violation of the a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council that seeks to protect press workers.

"We call on the Israeli government to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists (adopted in 2015), demand an urgent independent investigation and the sentencing of the perpetrators of this crime against freedom of the press," said Deloire.

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