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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Paleojournalists on 1-day strike |
| 2007-01-24 |
| Palestinian journalists went on a one-day strike Tuesday to protest Monday night's attack on the offices of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV satellite station in Gaza City. A powerful explosion ripped through the TV station's offices on the 11th floor of the Shurouq Tower in the Rimal neighborhood, causing extensive damage. No one was hurt. The offices were empty at the time of the explosion because the employees have not been reporting to work for the past week following death threats from Hamas. The threats came after Al-Arabiya aired a tape of PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in which he is heard making an offensive remark against God. Earlier this week, Hamas strongly condemned the station and accused it of trying to defame Haniyeh by taking his remarks out of context. Al-Arabiya correspondent Seif Eddin Shahin said he and his colleagues received many death threats over the past week. Hundreds of Palestinian journalists participated in a sit-in strike in Gaza City Tuesday to protest increased attacks on their colleagues and news organizations in the Palestinian territories. The protest was organized by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which issued a statement condemning the "war against the freedom of expression." Riham Abdul Karim, bureau chief of Al-Arabiya in the Gaza Strip, held the Hamas-led government responsible for the attack. She said Haniyeh knew about the threats against the station, but failed to take measures to prevent the attack. She added that Al-Arabiya tried to settle the dispute with Hamas "peacefully," but to no avail. Saleem al-Hindi, a reporter with the Gaza-based Voice of Laborers radio stations, described the attack as an organized crime against the media. He noted that his station was also attacked by Hamas last November. Hamas officials strongly denied responsibility for the attack, claiming that it could have been carried out by Fatah gunmen to drive a wedge between the station and Hamas. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Oxymoron alert. I think they mean "propaganda specialists"... |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-01-24 10:19 |