September 13, 2004.
A Palestinian newspaper editor recently fled Ramallah together with his wife
and children after receiving death threats from the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the
armed wing of Fatah.
Before leaving for one of the Gulf countries, the editor told friends that
the last threat came in the form of an envelope with a bullet that was sent to
him by mail.
“Your fate will be like that of Nabil Amr,” the letter warned, referring to the
Palestinian legislator who was shot and seriously wounded several weeks ago
in Ramallah.
The attack on Amr came almost immediately after he appeared on an
Arab television station and criticized Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat’s performance and the lack of democracy and transparency in the PA.
The verbal and physical intimidation of Palestinian journalists, especially those
who dare to report on issues that reflect negatively on Arafat and the PA, has
almost become accepted practice in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The editor who packed his bags and headed for the Gulf was guilty of
demanding financial and security reforms. Even worse, he had written a number
of articles calling for the prosecution of top officials and ministers implicated in
various corruption scandals.
He had good reason to flee Ramallah. The city has in recent years come under
the control of thugs claiming to belong to different political groups. Their
victims include legislators, senior officials, political activists, businessmen and
ordinary men and women.
The Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hassan Khraisheh,
complained that he had received death threats from unidentified gunmen
because of his role in exposing the ‘cement scandal.’ A Palestinian
parliamentary committee found that top Arafat aides and ministers had been
importing cheap cement from Egypt on behalf of Israeli construction firms. The
cement, according to reports, was later used for construction of Israel’s
security fence in the West Bank.
“There is a systematic campaign to silence any criticism of the Palestinian
leadership,” said a legislator in Ramallah. “The campaign is directed not only
against our journalists, but also against the foreign media and political leaders
and activists.”
Another reform-minded legislator said he had decided to keep a low profile after
the attempt on the life of Nabil Amr. “It’s becoming very dangerous,” he
explained. “Today I’m afraid to say things in public for fear that I would be
targeted.”
The general belief among many Palestinians in Ramallah is that the campaign is
being orchestrated by Arafat’s inner circle.
“All the guys who carry out the attacks are never caught,” said a
respected journalist living in the city. “We believe that they enjoy the backing of
senior officials in the Mukata .”
Arafat himself recently rebuked a group of Palestinian journalists for reporting
extensively on the ongoing power struggle in the Palestinian Authority. “You
must focus on the Israeli crimes against our people and the Aqsa Mosque,” he
told the reporters.
The Palestinian Journalists Association, a body controlled by Arafat loyalists,
went a step further by issuing a directive banning Palestinian journalists from
covering the internal strife.
The majority of the Palestinian journalists are complying with the new
regulations.
Even many reporters working for Al-Jazeera and the foreign media have begun
toeing the line. After all, they live in Ramallah and Gaza City and are subjected
to the same threats.
As a result of the intimidation, Palestinians now have to rely on rumors, street
pamphlets and outside sources to learn about what’s happening inside the
Mukata.
Last week, for instance, Palestinians learned from a number of
London-based Arabic dailies that Arafat had bad-mouthed his estranged Prime
Minister Ahmed Qurei, who even threatened to resign.
Some legislators have complained that the Palestinian media was boycotting
them on the instructions of Arafat’s office because of their demands for
reforms.
Jamileh Saydam, one of the lawmakers, said the Palestinian media was
not giving her and many of her colleagues a chance to express their views.
Instead, she added, the media focuses all the time on the same
legislators.
Arafat is under heavy pressure from the international community to endorse a
series of financial and security reforms.
But almost no one talks about the freedom of expression or the need to
have independent and free media in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
That’s perhaps the international community doesn’t even know that the
Palestinian media is entirely controlled by Arafat and that many journalists are
under threat. This is certainly a story that is not going to be told in Arafat’s
newspapers and television stations.
