AMMAN, 8 April 2006 — The Jordanian Press Association has threatened to inflict “deterrent” punishment on member journalists who visit Israel in violation of a previous decision that bars normalization with the Jewish state. “The JPA council will take deterrent measures against journalists who violate its decision that bans any form of normalization (with Israel),” the syndicate said in a statement yesterday.
The JPA council was responding to local press reports that 40 Jordanian journalists, who mainly worked for the state-run Radio and Television Corporation, planned to travel to Israel to attend a three-week training course at Haifa University, designed to spread the “peace culture” in the region.
“We wonder about the feasibility of such a visit at a time when Israel violates all agreements and practices daily acts of killings, annexation of land, violation of human rights and cracking down on the Palestinian people,” the syndicate said. It reminded members that both the JPA and the Arab Press Federation “prohibit all forms of normalization with the Zionist entity.”
