From Occupied Palestine

Iraq: CPJ calls for full and public inquiry into journalist’s death
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Letter/appeal, 18 August 2003

To: The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301
Via facsimile: (703) 697-9080

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the death of Reuters television cameraman Mazen Dana, who was killed by machine gun fire from a U.S. tank near Baghdad yesterday. We demand a full, public investigation into this incident. According to several press accounts, Dana was struck in the chest while filming near Abu Ghraib Prison outside Baghdad, late in the afternoon on August 17. Dana had been reporting near the prison after a mortar attack had killed six Iraqis there the previous night. Eyewitnesses quoted by international media said that several journalists had been near the prison at the time of the incident and that a soldier in the tank fired on Dana as he filmed it approaching him from about 50 meters (55 yards).

CPJ calls for full and transparent investigation into British journalist's death
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Press release, 7 May 2003

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled by the death of James Miller, a British free-lance journalist who was fatally shot on Friday, May 2, in the Gaza Strip.

Journalists killed in 2002
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
see complete study

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TERRITORIES: 3

Raffaele Ciriello, free-lance, March 13, 2002, Ramallah

Ciriello, an Italian free-lance photographer who was on assignment for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, was killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to press reports and eyewitness testimony. Ciriello was the first foreign journalist killed while covering the current Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000. The photographer died after being hit by a burst of machine gun fire from the direction of an Israeli tank during an Israeli military offensive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Attacks on journalists in 2002
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Country Report: Israel and the Occupied Territories

Part I: Overview

While the press is largely free within Israel proper, the country’s military assault on the Occupied Territories fueled a sharp deterioration in press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza during much of 2002. Despite vocal international protest, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed an assortment of press freedom abuses, ranging from banning press access in the West Bank to opening fire on journalists covering events.

Attacks on journalists in 2002, part II
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Country Report: Israel and the Occupied Territories

Part II: Details of each attack

January 3
Akhbar al-Khalil
CENSORED

The offices of the weekly newspaper Akhbar al-Khalil, in the West Bank city of Hebron, were raided by Palestinian security authorities. The officials ordered the paper’s immediate closure but gave no reason for the move. According to an editor at the paper, however, a Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security officer told him that the PNA was responding to Israeli and U.S. pressure to close the paper, which frequently criticized those countries’ Middle East policies.

CPJ mourns death of Italian photographer killed in West Bank
Committee to Protect Journalists 13 March 2002

CPJ is shocked and saddened by the death of Italian free-lance photographer Raffaele Ciriello, who was killed this morning by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to press reports and eyewitness testimony.

2001 International Press Freedom Awards
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
New York City, 20 November 2001

COVERING A DANGEROUS BEAT
Mazen Dana, cameraman, Reuters

MAZEN DANA is a cameraman for the Reuters news agency covering one of the most dangerous beats in the world, the West Bank city of Hebron, where journalists are routinely targets of violence. Dana has been wounded repeatedly during the seven years he has documented the clashes in his hometown for Reuters.

Attacks on journalists in 2000
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
Country Report: Israel and the Occupied Territories

Part I: Overview

The explosion of violence that begun in the Occupied Territories on September 29 has been unsparing of journalists, reinforcing the West Bank and Gaza Strip's reputation as among the world's most hazardous beats. Reasons why included the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli security forces, and militant Jewish settlers.