GAZA CITY, 4 March 2004 — The Palestinian Journalists Union demaned yesterday that Palestinian state attorney Hussein Abu-Assi resign immediately, and accused him of not taking necessary legal steps regarding the repeated assaults carried out against journalists.
The union’s decision was taken in the wake of the assassination, early Tuesday morning, of prominent Gaza journalist Khalil Al-Ziban, as well as other assaults against journalists and their properties in the Gaza Strip.
Investigations into the assaults have not been carried out.
In the Gaza Strip, the union has called for a one-day hunger strike and sit-in on Saturday to protest the killing of Al-Ziban in Gaza City.
The union also declared three days of mourning, beginning Tuesday, for Al-Ziban.
In Paris, International journalists’ rights organization Reporters
Sans Frontieres (RSF) yesterday called on President Yasser Arafat “to act” after the assassination of Al-Ziban, who was also one of his key advisors as well as publisher of An-Nashra.
According to spokeswoman Severine Cazes-Tschann, RSF expressed its “distress” and “indignation” to Arafat after the assassination of Al-Ziban.
“Our organization calls on you to immediately take clear, well-defined
and effective steps to shed light on this case and that will bring an end to the impunity with which Palestinian journalists are being attacked. This is the only way that freedom of the press can be restored to the territories under your control,” said RSF.
Since September 2003, the organization has voiced growing alarm over a rising toll of attacks, acts of
vandalism and threats against journalists and the Palestinian media.
“We received no reply to our demands,” said the organization. “Outside of official statements, the security forces have visibly not acted with sufficient firmness and determination, triggering a rapid deterioration in the situation.”
Analysts said splits within Arafat’s Fatah movement lie at the root of an alarming spate of attacks on Palestinian journalists and officials.
Arafat himself led the tributes to Al-Ziban after he was gunned down by masked men outside his offices in the center of Gaza City.
The killing was the latest in a string of attacks against Palestinian Authority officials and journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip where armed groups appear to be tightening their grip.
“It is evident that the acts of aggression carried out in the Palestinian territories are a reflection of the internal conflict at the heart of Fatah,” said Palestinian analyst Iyad Al-Saraj.
According to Saraj, Fatah is being wracked by internal divisions between “the old guard as represented by Arafat and the central committee, and the new generation of Mohammed Dahlan and his followers.”
Dahlan was former prime minister Mahmud Abbas’ security chief until Abbas was forced to quit after a power struggle with Arafat last September.
But Dahlan, who is a favorite of the White House, has remained a powerful figure in Palestinian political circles after building up support in his time as security supremo in the Gaza Strip.
— Additional input from Paul Michaud in Paris
