The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the contentious actions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in blocking access to 11 Palestinian news agencies in the West Bank.
The news groups are noted for being critical of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and affiliating themselves with his political opponents. Nonetheless, the sites are only unreachable whilst in the West Bank, and are not blocked from any other region.
Both the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and the IFJ have strongly critiqued the PA’s move saying that ‘blocking websites and arresting journalists with opposing views is a grave breach of the Palestinian government’s commitment to press freedom and journalists’ fundamental rights.’
The sites in question include the Palestine Information Center, the Voice of Fatah and the Shehab News Agency amongst others. The PA has denied that its move was political; claiming that the sites were blocked due to “a number of pending cases for reporting false information and being unethical,” Ma’an News Agency quoted Palestinian officials.
Numerous media groups have called the block a violation of free speech and raised their voices against it. This includes the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). In addition, a number of journalists were arrested, including Dhaher Alshamaly, who wrote a negative opinion piece on President Abbas.
It is still unclear as to how long the ban will last considering the scale of internal and international outcry.
