Palestinian journalists are being traded as bait in the ongoing power struggle between the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah and the Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas, a veteran Palestinian affairs correspondent warned.
Khaled Abu Toameh reported that journalists working in the Palestinian territories face extreme conditions. Both the PA and Hamas are known for cracking down on the media, creating a climate in which freedom of expression is non-existing. But now journalists also face arrest and torture to settle scores between PA President President Abbas and the Hamas leadership.
Over the past few weeks, Abu Toameh reported that several Palestinian journalists have been jailed in PA and Hamas prisons, while others have faced long hours of questioning in interrogating rooms and detention centers.
A correspondent for the PA’s Palestine TV in the Gaza Strip was arrested by Hamas on security-related offenses. In return, Abbas ordered a crackdown on journalists employed by Hamas-affiliated media outlets in the West Bank, with the result that seven Palestinian journalists found themselves in a PA detention center for working for “hostile and unauthorized” media organizations.
“As it turned out, the PA hostage-taking paid off, and Hamas was forced to release Jaradeh after 70 days in detention. In return, the PA security forces released six of the seven journalists, who were even allowed to return to their jobs and resume their work under the PA,” Abu Toameh wrote, adding that “Hamas and Abbas have turned Palestinian journalists into weapons in their internecine war.”
Consequently, “by taking journalists hostage, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas have demonstrated that they are operating more as militias than as governments,” Toameh assessed.
Hamas, which has complete military and political control over Gaza, heavily censors the news, and the PA has also demonstrated contempt for free speech. A new Cyber Crime Law passed by the PA targets Facebook and Twitter users who post comments critical of the Palestinian leadership and, according to Toameh, the law “will be used as a tool in the hands of Abbas and his henchmen to silence their critics or throw them into prison.”
The ongoing power struggle between the PA and Hamas has dire consequences for the Palestinian civilian population. Both sides have not hesitated to take extreme measures, such as the taking of journalists as hostages. Abbas has also introduced measures that include depriving the Gaza Strip of medical supplies, electricity and fuel, as well as forcing thousands of PA civil servants into early retirement and cutting off salaries to thousands of others.
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