The Palestinian arena is regarded as one of the most hot-spot in the world, due to the ongoing clashes and confrontations between the Palestinian demonstrators at one side, and the Israeli soldiers and the Jewish settlers at the other side in the West Bank. Palestinian journalists are continuously present in the battlefield, and are subject to different kinds of violations, among which are: killing, serious injuries, attacks and destroying cameras and other photojournalism equipment. Add to that arrests and all kinds of humiliation.

What distinguishes the Palestinian arena from other areas of conflict is the long continuation of the conflict which seems to be “eternal” with no sign of an end or a compromise. Additionally, most of the journalists who cover the events in the West Bank are Palestinians, who are regarded by the Israelis as part of the resistance. This leads Israel to consider a journalist a possible “threat” to its soldiers. Consequently, the level of threat against journalists grows higher.

Data and statistics indicate this clearly, as, for example, the Freedom Committee of the Palestinian Journalists’ Association indicated in its latest report that 30 journalists were injured by Israeli bullets, and 1 journalism student in Gaza was killed during the coverage of the October 2015 confrontations.

In this paper, the researcher examines three key issues relevant to the protection of journalists in the West Bank, in particular, as a result of the constant touch points between the Palestinians and the Israelis soldiers. These issues include:

1. The different forms of threat journalists face in the West Bank.
2. The precaution measures taken by journalists to minimize such threats.
3. Analyzing and examining the effectiveness of these measures for the purpose of improving the safety principles to protect journalists from being a target and under threat.

This proposed paper will use the descriptive analytical approach by analyzing the journalists’ experience, relying on interviews with those who usually cover clashes at the hot spots. The purpose is to identify the effectiveness of the safety and security measures they use while covering clashes.

Conference Title

UNESCO’s Research Conference on the Safety of Journalists

Conference Country

Finland

Conference Date

May 2, 2016 - May 4, 2016

Conference Sponsor

UNESCO

Additional Info

Conference Website