MEDIA WATCH REPORTS

OXFAM

Oxfam International is a confederation of 12 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice.
With many of the causes of poverty global in nature, the 12 affiliate members of Oxfam International believe they can achieve greater impact through their collective efforts.
For more please click here

INSI

The International News Safety Institute is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the safety of journalists and media staff and committed to fighting the persecution of journalists everywhere. The Institute is a coalition of media organisations, press freedom groups, unions and humanitarian campaigners working to create a culture of safety in media in all corners of the world. For more just click here
Latest news please click here

Palestine

What is going on in the Gaza Strip

 By Rashid A. Shahin

 Apr-25-2008

I am a Palestinian writer and usually write in Arabic. I rarely write in English or address foreigners, but since things are worsening in the Palestinian Territories especially in the Gaza Strip, I thought it would be a good idea to write an article in which I highlight on what is going on in this part of the world and that should be directed to the non Arabic speaking readers.

I could present so many photos which reflect the brutality of the Israelis and their practices against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but since these photos are so painful I prefer not to show them. If anyone is interested in seeing them, they can contact me on my e-mail address below and ask for them, and I will be glad to send them through.

What was behind the idea of this article is that I have received so many e-mails, photos and statistics about the miserable situation the Palestinian people are living in the Occupied Territories.

I will reproduce some of the statistics which a Swiss friend sent to me through which you people out there can imagine how the Israelis are making the Palestinian lives beyond imagination.

Actually I don’t know if you out there know that the Gaza borders are controlled by Israel and have been mostly closed since January 2006. This means nothing goes in or out unless the Israelis say so, including human beings, food, fuel, medical supplies, press coverage, educational materials etc.

According to a December 2007 report by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British charity based in London, 1.5 million People live in the Gaza Strip and over a million of these are refugees. Over 80% live below the poverty line, with 1.2 million people in Gaza dependent on food handouts.
Only 41% of Gaza's food import needs are currently being met.

Just these few facts are enough to show how bad and tragic the situation is in the Strip.

Moreover, the Palestinian Health Ministry says there are no stocks left of 85 essential medicines, including chemotherapy drugs, strong antibiotics and several psychiatric drugs. For a further 138 drugs there are only stocks for three months at most. Supplies of nitrous oxide for surgical anesthesia will run out in two weeks.

The Map statistics also revealed that 17.5% of patients who have requested access to East Jerusalem, Israel or abroad for emergency or chronic medical treatment have been denied permits since June 2007.

In October 2007, the public provider of water and sanitation services received 50% of the amount of fuel it needs to operate its wells, pumping stations and treatment plants. As a result, 210,000 people are able to access drinking water supplies for only one to two hours a day.

But how were things during the month of April 2008?
As if it couldn't get any worse…
Israel has slowly been decreasing the amount of fuel being let into Gaza over the past few months to critical levels. At this moment in time NO FUEL has been allowed in to Gaza for the last 8 days, this includes cooking gas.

Not only does this affect cars, so there is no transport but more importantly the electricity plant needs fuel to provide electricity to civilian homes in Gaza as well as the hospitals. Frequent power cuts occur and can last up to 12 hours. The hospitals are in constant crisis and only have a limited supply of emergency fuel. Approximately 70% of ambulances are grounded due to a lack of fuel.

The head of Gaza's main power plant has warned it will have to halt electricity supplies to some 500,000 people unless Israel resumes fuel shipments there.

Even the fishermen have not been able to take their boats out fishing for two months due to the shortage of fuel. Fishing is one of the only sustainable food sources within Gaza. There is also a lack of fuel to power the sewage plant that cleans the raw sewage, so it is being dumped right into the sea. Israel has given Gaza seven nautical miles to fish in, but due to the raw sewage being dumped, they can no longer fish there.

If we add to this frequent and random air strikes by the Israeli military, Palestinians in Gaza are living in chronic emergency conditions. In fact Israel has created something similar to an open prison.

Israel controls the borders and therefore has to supply basic human rights for the people within those borders. And since Israel is responsible for supplying the Strip with all the needed items and supplies – as an occupying force- "it is useless to speak about the disengagement since Israel is closing the area from land and sea" they should do so and should facilitate the Palestinians life in that area. From a legal point of view they should do so. Palestinians basic human rights are being violated. The Palestinian people rely heavily on aid from charity organizations. The international community must put pressure on Israel to come into line with UN regulations on human rights.

I believe the Palestinians have either been forgotten or the international community is turning a blind eye. Most of the press coverage of Gaza is about militant activity and not about the average person who is living there. It seems that people around the world have forgotten that this conflict involves innocent people's lives. I don’t want to talk here about where the Palestinian refugees came from and who caused their problem in the first place as this is another issue and is something that can be discussed in another story or article.

The people in Gaza don't want to rely on aid or charity. They want to work, to build an economy and to have opportunities, but Israel is ensuring none of this can happen. The world must remember that not everyone in the Gaza Strip is a militant, just as not every football supporter is a hooligan. We should remember that not all Irish people were part of the IRA. The people of Gaza are just like you out there, men, women and children with hopes and aspirations.

***Rashid A. Shahin- a Palestinian writer and journalist based in Bethlehem and can be contacted at

 sadapril2003@hotmail.com

International journalists' Association accuses the army of "brutality and deliberate targeting"
 

Saturday July 07, 2007 12:06
by Ameen Abu Wardeh -

The International journalists Association condemned Israeli for attacking journalists, and demanded a full investigation of the case of severely injuring a Palestinian camera man in the Thursday invasion into Gaza.

To view on line please go here

Iraq

CHRISTIANS PEACE TEAM [CPT] IRAQ
RESPONSE TO NEWEST VIDEO
FROM THE CAPTORS OF OUR FRIEND SCPT

Iraq has seen the newest video released on Al Jazeera showing three of our four colleagues held captive since November 26, 2005.
We are glad to see Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmeet Sooden.

We are unhappy that Tom Fox is absent from the video. We are concerned for the families of all our colleagues, but today we are especially concerned for Tom’s family and call on those who are holding our friends to reassure his family that he is well. Our other colleagues came to Iraq to oppose the occupation of Iraq and to work for peace for all Iraqis. We continue to hope and believe that all four of our friends are well and will be returned safely to their families and friends.
Harmeet, Tom, Norman and Jim, along with all of CPT, continues to stand with the people of Iraq, many of whom suffer the loss and captivity of the ones they love. CPT reaffirms its commitment to continue its work for all humanity around the world.

We means AWMC [Arab women media center ] and CPT Iraq wait for the day when Tom, Jim, Harmeet and Norman can continue their work for peace in the world.

EGYPT

Egyptian journalists…Fettered pens, continued

prosecution and sexual assault

EOHR’s report on the situation of journalists in Egypt

23/6/2005

“Officer Nabil Salim grabbed my arm. There was another officer with him wearing civilian clothes who grabbed Abeer. She said that’s a state security officer. Nabil Salim kept hold of my arm until the women came and he threw me against them and he told them ‘take her.’ They went and pulled me by the hair and hit me with shoes, on my head, shoulders and back. They pushed me to the ground and tried to take my trousers off but weren’t able to.”
“ There was someone pulling my hair, someone sitting on my back and someone else pushing me and suddenly I found myself surrounded by a group of youths and all of them were trying to grab parts of my body. All my clothes were ripped and I tried to escape but wasn’t able to.”
This is the testimony of two female journalists who attended the Kifaya movement’s demonstration against the article 76 amendment referendum held on Wednesday 25th May 2005 in front of the Journalists’ and Lawyers’ Syndicates and the Saad Zaghloul mausoleum. These journalists were sexually assaulted by National Democratic Party (NDP) thugs and women specifically hired for this purpose. These assaults occurred within sight and hearing of state security forces. When these journalists sent complaints about the assaults to the attorney general they their families were subsequently threatened that cases would be fabricated against them, or that their relatives would be taken into detention or that the journalists themselves would lose their jobs.
Journalists in Egypt suffer numerous forms of discrimination including unfairness in the legislation governing press freedom and journalism, judicial prosecution of journalists for their writings and opinions, assault and death threats and sexual assault of female journalists.
FOR MORE DETAILS PLEASE CLICK HERE

AWMC saying YES LOUD AND STRONG, As journalist and director of a unique NGO media center named Arab women media center, www.ayamm.org  in which our media org found to support such gender issues especially IN POLITICAL AND MANAGEMENTS POSITIONS.
We're believing in our org, that women in our area are capable to take over not because we are females, but of a simple reason our males never have done a single step to upgrade and update our freedom status in Arab world on the opposite they were dictators and selfish when taking over, so that is why we all females + males living is such a miserable life of it's all aspects.
Time now is coming for change, again WE ARE SAYING LOUD AND CLEAR LET WOMEN TAKING OVER IN ARAB REGION.
THANKS
MAHASEN AL EMAM
AWMC DIRECTOR

TOP URGENT

Press Release July 17, 2005

Dr. Nawal El Saadawi withdraws in protest from presidential race in upcoming elections in Egypt

On Saturday July 17, in an urgently called joint meeting of various committees of Gender Concerns International the withdrawal decision was discussed thoroughly and the need to broaden and intensify the world wide scope of Say Yes Now campaign was emphasized strongly. The meeting has issued the following statement:

Though we are saddened with the decision of Nawal El Saadawi to withdraw her candidacy from presidential race in upcoming elections in Egypt but we completely endorse the reasons given by Nawal El Saadawi as justification for her decision.  In the context where women in many parts of the world and especially in her own region were very motivated by her decision to participate in upcoming elections, her withdrawal challenges world’s attention to voice against such un-favorable circumstances under which participation in democratic process becomes a suffocating experience.

Nawal's Withdrawal is followed up by Ibrahim

Egypt dissident to boycott vote
By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Cairo
A prominent Egyptian human rights activist has said he will be boycotting September's presidential elections.

For more please click here
We need more than ever before to come together and be loud and clear and Say Yes Now! Democracy NOT without women. We must act now, collectively and fast.

 PLEASE GO AND SAY YES NOW

To sign in and support please do now click here

LEBANON

Obstacles & Prospects for Women & Youth in the MENA
Media Landscape
Lecture prepared for Seminar/Workshop on
“Media, Women & Youth in the Middle East & North Africa”
organized by the Olof Palme International Center at the Swedish Institute
in Alexandria, Egypt, February 20-22, 2005

to view the lecture please click here

Journalists from the Maghreb region, the Middle East and Europe met in Rabat to discuss the merits of public broadcasting and its eventual adoption in Morocco and the Arab World, where most countries’ broadcast media are still state-run.

The conference, entitled “Towards Public Broadcasting in Morocco and in the Region” and organized by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists and Syndicat National de la Presse Marocaine, adopted a declaration on the creation of an independent public broadcasting system in the region, including an action plan for journalists’ organizations.

Online Journalism and Development of the Arab Media   

BY Magda Abu-Fadil - Lebanon LAU   

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's opposition accused Syria on Thursday of continuing to interfere in its politics, blaming Damascus for the killing of a prominent anti-Syrian journalist who died when a bomb exploded under his car.
Opposition leaders called for a general strike Friday to protest the killing of Samir Kassir, who died as an international team was investigating the February assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri. Anti-Syrian leaders were quick to make a link between the two killings.
Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, said the same people were behind both assassinations, "and God knows what's coming." Syria denied involvement in Thursday morning's bombing of Kassir's car in the Christian Beirut neighbourhood of Ashrafieh, where he lived. The explosion, which shattered windows in nearby buildings, came amid Lebanese parliamentary elections that the opposition hopes to win, ending Syria's control of the legislature. Details please click here

YEMEN

For more details please click here.

For AWMC Arabic backing and protesting please click here. 

For more about Rahmeh activities please brows down in this page;

Also for more on Arab Press freedom watch releases please click here

APPEALS TO RELEASE FREEDOM ACTIVISTS

FWD by our activist MS Rahmeh Hugera Director of Yemeni women journalists Forum - Yemen

E-mail: yfmf-yemen@yemen.net.ye
www.yfmf.org 

Report from Al-Shoura newspaper

About the case of Mr. Alkhaiwany

As everybody are waiting for the verdict issuing session concerning Alshoura journal case and its editor-in-chief Mr. Ablulkareem Alkhaiwany whom has been taking illegally into prison six moths ago, and while  the judicial system should ensure its dependency from any outsider pressure from powerful individuals or institutions, the political field was extremely shocked by the tensed security action accompanied the trial and led to attacking and insulting the attorneys Mr. Jamal Alj'obi, Mr. Muhammad Naji Alaw and Mr.Hafed Albokary the gneral secertary of Association of Yemeni Journalists. As a result of that, the defense body left the session.

Even worse, the ultimate surprise was that the judge did not say the verdict as it has been agreed upon and he opened the door for new pleadings and postponed the verdict to the 22 of March 2005 which present to the world a new judicial scandal as they deprive the prisoner Abdulkareem Alkhaiwany the least of  the constitutional and legal right of free speech.

Therefore, Alshoura journal editing body renews its condemnation of this kind of aggressive and arbitrariness behavior against the journal and its editor-in-chief  and again demand a quick release for their colleague Alkhaiwany. This demand is based on  the outlooks of the case that prove the shifting process of the case to a political issue without the least respect for justice, freedom, democracy and human rights. The editing body is also calling the local and international organization to continue with their effort and put more pressure upon the authorities and to try to draw their attention to the international commitment concerning the press liberty and not to imprison journalists, let alone attacking and insulting them by addressing them using taboo language in court…! The court which is suppose to be the shelter for those who are tyrannized  and seeks justice.

What happened today leaves any talks about the judicial system independency worthless and yet can not fool anybody.

editing body of Alshoura

March,1,2005

SYRIA

Women in the Media Past - Present - & Future

By Dr Sonia Dabous - Egypt Assistant Editor Akhbar El Yom And Affiliate Professor of Journalism American University in Cairo.

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