JERUSALEM—Three pro-Fatah newspapers produced in the West Bank have been banned from Gaza by Hamas. On July 7, Gaza-based distributors of the three daily papers, Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Al-Ayyam, and Al-Quds, were met by Hamas security forces who did not let them pick up the publications after passing through the Erez crossing.
Recently, Israel lifted its own three-year ban on the three newspapers in Gaza.
According to New York-based press freedom organization the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Abdel Nasser Al-Najjar, chair of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the editorial director of Al-Ayyam, said the newspapers were told to sign an agreement agreeing not to criticize Hamas if they want to distribute in Gaza.
“Hamas unofficially asked the officials of the newspapers to sign, and when we try to contact Hamas officials they refuse to talk or comment on that,” Al-Najjar told CPJ.
The Hamas Information Office denied the claim, claiming that at least one pro-Hamas paper has been banned from the West Bank for the past three years.
Conflicts between pro-Hamas and pro-Fatah newspapers is not new. The international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that in 2009, over 20 journalists were arrested by Hamas interior ministry security services. RSF says the journalists were questioned about their links with Fatah and the “Ramallah government” while in custody.
According to RSF, in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested several journalists they consider close to Hamas, including in 2009 when about 40 journalists, mostly with al-Aqsa TV, were arrested and questioned about their work, their media’s source of income, and their relations with Hamas officials.
The ongoing coercion and intimidation has created an atmosphere of self-censorship for Palestinian journalists, says RSF.
Mousa Rimawi, from the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA), agrees that the situation is “nothing new.” She told the CPJ that the turning point came in 2007, when Hamas won elections in Gaza and took power. The elections only intensified the rift between Hamas and Fatah.
Rimawi thinks Hamas’s new ban on the three newspapers is a move to censor the editorial positions of the newspapers, preventing criticism of Hamas. She also thinks Hamas is using the ban of the newspapers to pressure Palestinian authorities in the West Bank to let media outlets there affiliated with Hamas operate freely.
The conflict between the two largest Palestinian political factions, Fatah and Hamas, dates back largely to 2005 when Yasser Arafat died. In the power void, the two parties could not come together and the tension steadily intensified, culminating in the summer of 2007, when the Palestinian Territories split into two, with Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas the Gaza Strip.
Recently, Israel lifted its own three-year ban on the three newspapers in Gaza.
According to New York-based press freedom organization the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Abdel Nasser Al-Najjar, chair of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the editorial director of Al-Ayyam, said the newspapers were told to sign an agreement agreeing not to criticize Hamas if they want to distribute in Gaza.
“Hamas unofficially asked the officials of the newspapers to sign, and when we try to contact Hamas officials they refuse to talk or comment on that,” Al-Najjar told CPJ.
The Hamas Information Office denied the claim, claiming that at least one pro-Hamas paper has been banned from the West Bank for the past three years.
Conflicts between pro-Hamas and pro-Fatah newspapers is not new. The international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that in 2009, over 20 journalists were arrested by Hamas interior ministry security services. RSF says the journalists were questioned about their links with Fatah and the “Ramallah government” while in custody.
According to RSF, in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested several journalists they consider close to Hamas, including in 2009 when about 40 journalists, mostly with al-Aqsa TV, were arrested and questioned about their work, their media’s source of income, and their relations with Hamas officials.
The ongoing coercion and intimidation has created an atmosphere of self-censorship for Palestinian journalists, says RSF.
Mousa Rimawi, from the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom (MADA), agrees that the situation is “nothing new.” She told the CPJ that the turning point came in 2007, when Hamas won elections in Gaza and took power. The elections only intensified the rift between Hamas and Fatah.
Rimawi thinks Hamas’s new ban on the three newspapers is a move to censor the editorial positions of the newspapers, preventing criticism of Hamas. She also thinks Hamas is using the ban of the newspapers to pressure Palestinian authorities in the West Bank to let media outlets there affiliated with Hamas operate freely.
The conflict between the two largest Palestinian political factions, Fatah and Hamas, dates back largely to 2005 when Yasser Arafat died. In the power void, the two parties could not come together and the tension steadily intensified, culminating in the summer of 2007, when the Palestinian Territories split into two, with Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas the Gaza Strip.
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