PARIS, 24 February — French journalists’ rights organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF — Reporters Without Borders) has condemned the Jan. 19 destruction of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation Building in Gaza by Israeli forces. The building houses the Voice of Palestine.
The RSF expressed its “indignation” in a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Bel-Eliezer.
The letter goes much further than previous statements addressed by RSF to Israeli authorities to protest individual acts of violence against Palestinian journalists and the broadcast facilities they us.
“We are protesting against the (Israeli) policy of deliberate elimination of any official Palestinian point of view on the (present) conflict,” said the letter authored by RSF secretary-general Robert Menard.
He also said the fate of the Voice of Palestine, its personnel as well as its broadcast facilities, are of particular concern to the French state for not only have some of the radio network’s journalists been trained in France, but also because the facilities have been often financed by France, usually in association with Germany.
As of late January, according to French governmental sources, some 6 million euros ($5.4 million) had already been granted by France and Germany for Palestine to by media equipment to get across its side of the conflict with Israel.
The bombing of the Voice of Palestine building also sparked a decision on Jan. 22 by the European Union, meeting in Brussels, to express to Israel its concern over the “useless” destruction of EU-financed facilities that had already cost it $2.7 billion.
Proposals were made by certain representatives that Israel be asked to reimburse the EU for the Palestinian infrastructure its member countries had financed.
The RSF’s letter said Israel’s consistent effort to destroy any and all possibilities for Palestine to officially express itself only shows that “the Israeli government is really doing everything it can to silence the media of the Palestinian Authority.”
Citing a report by Khaled Al-Siam, the director of the station located in east Gaza, the RSF said Israeli soldiers blasted the building by placing explosives on two floors.
“The explosion was so strong that the entire building collapsed,” Al-Siam was quoted as saying.
The Israelis also reportedly took away documents were taken and technical equipment.
Israel’s rampage, however, has failed to silence the Voice of Palestine. which continues to broadcast out of the facilities of private radio stations located in the West Bank.
