PRESS RELEASE
Released @ 12:00 hours GMT, 7th November 1998
The PNA Imposes Additional Restrictions
on the Freedom of Expression and Press
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses its deep concern about the new measures adopted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) earlier this month to regulate the activities of foreign press in areas under its jurisdiction. PCHR believes that such measures contradict relevant Palestinian laws and constitute further restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and the right to the freedom of the press. Indeed, PCHR fully supports the stand taken by the Palestinian Journalists’ Association and the Palestinian Ministry of Information against the new measures. Furthermore, PCHR calls for the PA to cancel such measures and revert back to the previous satisfactory measures.
On November 2nd 1998, in order to regulate the work of foreign correspondents, the General Information Services of the PA issued the so-called Executive Regulation Number 9, based on a presidential verbal directive. According to Article 4 of the regulation, “the agency grants press cards to accredited correspondents and their aides (both foreigners and locals), entitling them to movement in PA areas”.
According to Articles 5 and 6, the Agency’s press department will be responsible for coordinating the entry of foreign correspondents or press delegations conducting special missions. It will be responsible for organising appointments in advance for the press with Palestinian officials. According to Article 10 of the new regulation, the Press Department should be informed of a press delegation’s date of arrival not less than 48 hours in advance. The Department will provide services for foreign media agencies, including appointing one employee to accompany each delegation. In reaction to several critiques by foreign press agencies, Ziad Abd El-Fattah, the head of the Agency, said that the whole affair is no more than a new regulating process, according to which the Agency will be responsible for providing services for foreign journalists, regulating their entry and exit into PA areas and facilitating their missions in an appropriate manner, that guarantees their movement in a way that doesn’t contradict the security and security measures related to the PA interest.. Abd El- Fattah added that many media agencies were recently noticed inciting the PA and that the new regulation will guarantee the free movement of foreign journalists and at the same time protect the PA from incitement.
The Palestinian Ministry of Information issued a press release on Nov 3rd, which asserts that the PA’s relationship with local and foreign journalists is the sole
jurisdiction of the Ministry and that no formal decisions have been issued to the contrary. In another press release, The Ministry said that it is the only contact reference with foreign journalists and that Regulation Number 1 of 1996 issued in accordance with the Palestinian Press Law of 1995 is the only legal framework that can set up contact between the PA and the foreign journalists. This preserves journalists’ rights to carry out their activities in conformity with relevant laws. The Ministry demanded that foreign journalists should disregard any other regulations issued by any other irrelevant agency. Furthermore, in a letter addressed to a number of Palestinian officials, Mr Yasser Abed Rabbu, the Palestinian Minister of Information, considered that the new regulation issued by the General Information Services was out of the Agency’s jurisdiction. He added that it contradicted Palestinian laws and regulations, damaging the reputation of the PA and transforming it into an oppressive, intelligence authority that restricts the movement of foreign correspondents. The Minister announced that such new measures are null and void and the Agency has no jurisdiction to issue them.
It is worth noting that the General Information Services were established by the Presidential Decree Number 41 of February 12th, 1996, as an independent public agency in the President’s Office. The decree mentioned nothing about the jurisdiction and authority of such an agency. Accordingly, PCHR expresses the following:
- These new media regulations come as part of the measures carried out by the PA since the signing of the Wye Memorandum (the Palestinian, Israeli, American agreement on October 23rd) in order to impose more restrictions on the freedom of expression and increasing censorship on the press. At the same time as the signing of the memorandum, the Palestinian police detained 12 Palestinian and foreign journalists and prevented them from conducing interviews with Sheikh Ahmed Yessin (the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas) and confiscated their video tapes. The journalists were informed that such interviews should be approved by the police in advance. Later that day, Sheikh Ahmed Yessin was put under house arrest and his telephone line was disconnected, isolating him from the outside world. Furthermore, the PA have launched massive waves of arrests of more than 150 people, including leaders , members and supporters of the Islamic movements (who oppose the agreement) in the Gaza Strip alone.
- The relationship between the PA and foreign press agencies and their correspondents is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information, according to the Press Law of 1995 and Regulation Number 1 of 1996 (Regulation of the Correspondents of Foreign Press). PCHR believes that the interference of any other body is illegal and that the new regulations issued by the General Information Services are null and void.
- Despite the critical reservations expressed by the Palestinian human rights community on the Press Law of 1995, the PA has never been satisfied with the restrictions imposed on the freedom of expression and press which are implied
in this law. In practice, the PA has in fact has taken other restrictive steps in defiance with the law, including the closure of newspapers and the summoning of journalists to the police stations and sometimes even detaining them. These measures already threatened the freedom of the press in a dramatic way.
- It seems that the current restrictions on the freedom of expression and press are no longer enough, as the latest measures reveal a new, unprecedented phase that will be characterised with more restrictions. It is clear that the new measures aim
at isolating opposition leaders and at ensuring that no voice be heard other than the voices of the PA and supporters of the Wye Agreement.
- PCHR believes that the new measures undermine one basic pillar of the democratic building, since no democracy can be achieved without the freedom of expression and press.
- While such new arrangements undermine the freedom of the press and add more restrictions on the freedom of expression, they constitute a major threat to the livelihoods of local journalists, especially those working in press offices that provide logistic services for the international media. Such services, will from now on be provided by the PA through the Agency.
- PCHR calls upon the PA to cancel these new measures and return back to the previous arrangements which were more than sufficient to regulate the entry of foreign correspondents into PA territory. PCHR also warns of the dramatic consequences of the new measures on the democratic process and the efforts to establish a democratic system in Palestine.