On Monday, December 05, 2022, Press House- Palestine held its annual conference for Media Freedoms 2022, with participation of media professionals, writers, and journalists.
Mr. Belal Jadallah, General Director, welcomed the attendees and reviewed the state of Media freedoms in Palestine, saying, "Every year we hope that the indicators of violations against journalists and women journalists in Palestine are decreased, but unfortunately we notice an increase in those indicators. "Also, he pointed out that violations of media freedoms against Palestinian journalists and media workers are on the rise, noting that from the beginning of the year till the end of November 2022, there were (1327) violations of media freedoms against Palestinian journalists and media workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Israeli Occupation responsible for the majority of these violations.
He added that it is unfortunate that the numbers and indicators of social media violations of Palestinian content have increased, as (370) violations of the digital rights of media professionals have been tracked and documented through a variety of social media platforms, which accounts for (27.8%) of all violations of media freedoms.
Jadallah also expressed his desire during the conference to keep the file of violations against media freedoms open, in order to stop the violations, also he called on the international community to put pressure on occupation to stop its violations of the freedom of Press in Palestine, in addition to the legal prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Palestinian journalists.
First session
Mr. Abdullah Sharshrah, Director of the Legal Protection Unit for Journalists at Press House, reviewed the annual report of Press House for media freedoms 2022, through a worksheet presented at the beginning of the first session moderated by Ms. Shaima Mekdad, under the title: "The Reality of Media Freedoms in Palestine 2022", stressing that "The Palestinian territories witnessed serious violations of Media Freedoms during the year 2022", as "violations of media freedoms against Palestinian journalists and media workers during the period from January 1, 2022 to the end of November 2022, reached 1327 violations, 879 violations committed by Israeli Occupation forces, 78 internal violations, and 370 violations of journalists digital rights.
Sharshrah stressed that "The Legal Protection Unit for journalists continued to urge journalists to head to it, whether to file complaints, request information, inquire or get legal advice; in order to strengthen the legal protection of journalists, as the unit provided legal advice services this year to many journalists and media organizations, also, media materials were legally audited and legal interventions were implemented in order to contribute to the protection of journalists.
On the other hand, Dr. Falah Al Safadi reviewed his paper on the topic "The Palestinian Media and the Digital Blockade", which highlights the concepts and tools of the digital blockade, and the impact of the practices of the digital blockade on the Palestinian media at all levels.
Second Session:
In the second session of the conference, moderated by the journalist Ms. Ruba Al Ajrami, Researcher Dr. Samia Al Ghussein reviewed a research paper on the topic: "Violation of the Right to Privacy and Digital Security". During the second session, a delegation from the European Union visited the conference and reviewed its details and ongoing discussions.
The research paper included 3 main objectives, including emphasizing the importance of privacy and digital security, highlighting the most prominent violations faced by journalists, and analyzing and criticizing relevant Palestinian legislation and laws.
Researchers Mr. Mohammed Abu Shahmma and Mr. Ahmed Al Agha presented the fourth paper during the conference, on the topic: "Media freedom and Sources Protection-Investigative Journalism as a Model". During this session, the researchers worked on the need to provide protection for Investigative Journalists, protect the sources of Investigative Journalists in censorship of all public institutions, and the safety of journalistic sources, which is reflected on the strength of the journalistic investigations.
The conference included in-depth discussions that reviewed the reality of Media Freedoms and the challenges facing journalists during their work in the field.
