On Tuesday,3rd of Sep 2019, The Press House - Palestine honored the winners of its Annual award for Media Freedom for the year 2019 at the sixth anniversary ceremony held at the Cedar Restaurant in Gaza City.
The ceremony was attended by Bilal Jadallah, The Chairman of the Press House - Palestine, Hilda Haraldstan, The Ambassador of Norway to Palestine, Julian Thony, The Ambassador of Switzerland to Palestine, representatives of the European Union, international and civil society institutions, Palestinian institutions, media institutions, as well as a number of media professionals. writers, intellectuals and a number of new journalists and media activists.
In his speech, Mr. Jadallah welcomed the attendance, noting that the ceremony comes six years after the founding of the Press House-Palestine Institution, which was established to promote freedom of opinion and expression in the Palestinian territories.
He thanked the Swiss and Norwegian governments and all local and international institutions for their continuous support to the Press House and appreciated efforts for the institution since it was an idea up to what it reached.
Mr. Bilal pointed out that: "The Press House started at a pace during the past six years, and faced many difficulties, but it has achieved success we are proud of, and found a great attention from the journalists and the various institutions," noting that it worked according to a clear strategic plan, and within three main programs, (Capacity Building, Awareness-Raising, National Dialogue Promotion), where Jadallah listed the activities, programs and events of th Press House
He Said: “Today we celebrate the annual Award of the Press House, which is given to promote the freedom of expression, democracy, community reconciliation, national unity, tolerance, humanitarian issues, women and youth issues, and the academic issues”.
He also clarified that:” These topics are what distinguish the Press House Award every year in order to encourage the largest amount of journalists to work on these important topics that affect the Palestinian media discourse on the one hand, and Palestinian society on the other."
According to Jadallah, the Press House Award, is an annual award, which is part of the capacity building program implemented according to specialized and independent committees, each according to its field of work.
He noted that a gradual interest was recorded in the application for the Press House Award, which gives a satisfactory indication of the success of its goal, which is to stregthening the role of media professionals in focusing on the issues of media freedom and the national issues such as the reconciliation, national unity, democracy and tolerance.
The Chairman of the Press House wished to celebrate this occasion (Annual Award) while facing a better reality compared to the past years regarding the violations of the press and media freedom in Palestine.
In this regard, Jadallah expressed his regret for the continued Israeli violations against the freedom of the press and journalists without accountability, recalling the journalists Yasser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hassanein who were martyred by the Israeli occupation bullets while their field-based working in the eastern Gaza Strip.
He continued: "The occupation continues to snipe journalists every week despite wearing their press badges clearly, and continues to close the media institutions in the West Bank, and prevents the right to freedom of movement and treatment for male and female journalists, and continues to prevent the entry of the occupational safety equipment ."
He added: "Unfortunately, we find ourselves facing a year in which serious violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and to the truth makers, have increased at all levels, whether by the occupation or internal ones."
Bilal stressed that: " This situation puts us in front of a challenge that requires the concerted efforts of various parties to defend media freedoms that are facing repeated and diverse attacks, aimed at silencing the voice of truth, which cannot be silenced in any way, because the voice of truth is the voice of the highest ".
He called for strengthening the unity of the media and the press body, rejecting the dispute as well as strengthening joint media efforts to defend the freedom of the “Pres ", so as to confront and face violations against the right to freedom of Media."
He pointed to the need to focus on the media to document the violations of the occupation against the Palestinian press and disseminate them in particular in the international media to expose the occupation and its ugly practice of media freedoms.
He urged the international community to end-run the occupation to stop its violations against the press in Palestine, in parallel with the legal prosecution of murdering the journalists.
Jadallah reiterated his call for the officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to clearly declare the criminalization of any attack on the Palestinian journalists and to provide all necessary needs to achieve media freedoms in practice and hold the perpetrators to account.
At the end of his speech, Jadallah congratulated all the winners of the annual award for this year, expressing his hope for success to those who were not lucky, and to receive the award at the next year, and thanked the media arbitration committees, which worked with professionalism and transparency to select the winners according to the criteria set for the award.
During the ceremony, a short film documenting the chronology of the years of launching the Press House Award for Media Freedom and the contributions of those who participated in its various fields, in addition to presenting an artistic piece of the Palestinian heritage.
The Ambassador of Norway: “The Freedom of Expression is a fundamental right and we will continue to support the Palestinian people.”
Hilda Haraldistan, The Norwegian Ambassador to Palestine, thanked the attendance and the Press House for “The Arrangement of this important event”, congratulating the winners and wished success in the efforts to reach a strong, fair and transparent press.
She stresses that the Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone not only of freedom and democracy but also of sustainable development and prosperity.
Haraldistan said that the freedom of expression includes openness to criticism or at least frank discussion on related issues, noting that this is not easy for any society in the world, but it is highly challenging for countries in conflict and war.
The Norwegian ambassador added: "In view of all the circumstances you are living in Palestine, especially in Gaza, your work is unique , "We celebrate the achievements of young Palestinian journalists who have dealt with issues that concern the Palestinian people with integrity, honesty and professionalism."
“Norway is a part not only as a donor but also a partner," she said, noting that her country was aware of the social, economic and political challenges in Palestine and would continue to support the Palestinian people in all our endeavors to meet their needs and rights in a free state through peaceful settlements.
The Norwegian Ambassador said “ The Norway and our Swiss partners are delighted and proud to collaborate with organizations such as the Press House that help young journalists improve their skills, experience and knowledge, and improve their employment opportunities and professional performance based on the principles of freedom of expression.”
She continues that “We believe that the work of the Press House and other organizations is a strategic and vital work to spread the true and free voice among the media, the press and society”.
She stressed that "Achieving this requires appropriate cooperation with relevant government partners who can work together in the best interest of the Palestinian people”.
The Swiss Ambassador:” We are committed to protecting human rights in Gaza and the Palestinian territories”.
For his part, Julian Thony, the Swiss ambassador to Palestine, said at the beginning of his speech: "I welcome the attendance on the occasion of the House Press Award organized by our partners in Gaza."
He continues: “It is a matter of pride that Switzerland has supported the Press House since its founding in 2013, and it is remarkable how the Press House has developed and progressed as an institution ever since,”
He clarified that: “Over the past few years, the Press House has become a widely recognized institution as a training center, workplace and safe shelter for young and independent journalists in Gaza and the West Bank”, praising the development of its website, Sawa News Agency, which has become one of the first agencies in Palestine.
He continued: "This development is particularly remarkable because it took place in a time of increasingly difficult socio-economic politics in Gaza."
He reiterated the Switzerland's commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza.
The Ambassador Thony noted that his country is deeply concerned about the "contradictory spaces of civil society and human rights defenders in Gaza and the West Bank resulting from the prolonged Israeli military occupation, the Palestinian political division, and the increasing of inclusive roles of the Palestinian authorities in Gaza and the West Bank."
According to the Swiss Ambassador, a free press is necessary everywhere in the world to promote and protect human rights and as a cornerstone of any free and democratic society.
He said: "Unfortunately, the Press freedom is under pressure, including in Europe, where journalists are prevented from doing their jobs, and this is also the case in the West Bank and Gaza”.
He added: "For this reason, despite the negative tendencies in the past months and years, I highly appreciate the fact that this award can take place here today in Gaza City, and that this ceremony will honor journalists who have dedicated their efforts to highlight critical and sensitive issues such as human rights, democracy. And national unity. "
The Ambassador mentioned: "The courageous work of journalists and human rights defenders is present here today and contributes to nurturing and enriching the public debate and preserving hope for a better future in the occupied Palestinian territories, and in Gaza in particular”.
For his part, the Journalist Mohammed Al-Baba, who represents as a member of the jury, in detail reviewed in detail the nature of the work of the committees formed by the Press House to evaluate the submitted materials of the award for the two categories “The Press Photo and Press Story”.
Al-Baba explained that the committees evaluated the submitted materials based on the conditions and criteria of the Press House Award and according to the declared topics: The freedom of expression, democracy, humanitarian issues, national unity, tolerance, academic, women and youth issues, where two winners won the first and second place in the category of the Press Photo, while one winner won the first place in the Press Story category.
He said: “The materials assessment sessions were held at the Press House for two consecutive days. Where the Press Photo Committee was held on Wednesday, June 19th, and the Press Story Committee was held on Thursday, June 20th."
According to Mohamed Al-Baba, 40 articles have been submitted to the category of the Press Photo, 3 of which have been excluded because they do not meet the criteria set for the competition, while 52 articles have been submitted to the category of the Press Story, and 17 media articles have been excluded between a report, an investigation and a journal article, which was not considered as a press story.
He pointed out that "the evaluation process was conducted with integrity, transparency and high objectivity, where an evaluation model was adopted for each category of the award according to the members of the Committee and the Press House."
He added that "The submitted materials for each category were evaluated by all the members of the committee individually, and then the first three articles with the highest ratings were extracted. And in case of equal scores for two submitted materials, the vote of the committee members shall be adopted on equal articles."
He also pointed out that during the work, the members of the committees were not aware of the names of applicants, where the articles were referred to by numbers and not by the names of its owners.
Al-Baba concluded his speech on behalf of the Arbitration Committees, thanking all those who contributed to the success of this ceremony and the presentation of this award, and all who applied and contributed the creativity of his idea, pen and camera to reach this platform with his efforts and creativity.
In addition, the Press House decided for the second time to award the journalist writer” Talal Oukal” for his writings that enriched the scene in Palestine.
At the end of the ceremony, the winners of the Press House award for Media Freedom 2019 were announced for each category, as follows:
Photojournalism ruled by Reuters photographer Mohammed Jadallah, Agence France-Presse photographer Mohamed Baba, APA photographer Hatem Moussa, APAImages director Noaman Eshtewi Click here.
The Press Photo Category ruled by Reuters photographer Mohammed Jadallah, the France-Presse photographer Mohamed Al- Baba, and the Director of PAImages Agency Numan Eshteiwi.
The first-place winner: Abd Al-Rahman Khalil Zaqout- The second place winner: Majdi Fathi Qraiqee.
While at the category of the Press Story ruled b, Ahmed Kabariti, Fadi al-Husni, Alaa Abu Aisha, was won by the journalist Mohammed Musa Abu Doun.
