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Qatar Press Center welcomes decision to protect journalists in Palestine

The Qatar Press Center welcomes the adoption by the Intergovernmental Council for the Development of Communication (IPDC), at its 34th session held in the French capital, Paris, of a resolution on the protection of journalists in occupied Palestine, as part of the UNESCO Director-General’s report on the protection of journalists and the issue of impunity.

The Center stresses the importance of the resolution in condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, journalists and media professionals in Gaza and the West Bank, who are paying a heavy price in terms of their freedom and lives as a result of being subjected to threats, arrests and targeting of their homes, the homes of their relatives and their locations during the ongoing war of extermination that Israel has been waging against Gaza since October 7, 2023. The Center calls on the international community, UN, human rights and media organizations to condemn the targeting of journalists in Gaza with killing, arrest and intimidation, and to take urgent action to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists and media professionals, and to pressure it to stop the crimes of genocide and stop the assassination of Palestinian journalists.

The Center reiterates its condemnation of the continued targeting of journalists in Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces, with killing and abuse, while performing their media duties to cover the current events in the Gaza Strip. The Center notes that the Israeli army's targeting of journalists' homes and locations inside Gaza, and inside schools housing displaced persons, is a flagrant violation of international law and a heinous crime to silence free media and obstruct its transmission of the truth to the world.

It is noteworthy that international organizations concerned with press freedom have recorded more than 186 murders of journalists in Gaza and the West Bank, committed by the Israeli occupation forces since October 7, 2023 until now. The Intergovernmental Council for the Development of Communication (IPDC), at its 34th session held in the French capital, Paris, adopted a resolution on the protection of journalists in Palestine, as part of the UNESCO Director-General’s report on the protection of journalists and the issue of impunity. The resolution condemns the continuing increase in the number of martyred journalists in the Gaza Strip, and requests the Director-General of UNESCO to make every possible effort to meet the urgent needs of journalists in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, by implementing the necessary measures to protect and support them. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed in a statement the importance of these decisions in preserving the rights of the Palestinian people in all areas of UNESCO's work, especially in light of Israel's crimes against journalists, especially in the Gaza Strip, during the ongoing war of extermination, in complete disregard of international law and UNESCO's rulings, and in disregard of the orders of the International Court of Justice, the legal advisory opinion, and the General Assembly resolution that stressed the need to end the illegal Israeli occupation, which stressed the non-recognition of the emerging status of the occupation and the end of its illegal policies. The Foreign Ministry pointed out that the adoption of these decisions is evidence of the ability of the international community to fulfill its responsibilities by shedding light on the tragic situation of journalistic work in Palestine, and the unprecedented number of journalists who lost their lives in the war in the Gaza Strip, and providing them with some form of protection, in addition to calling on the Government Council to condemn the deliberate targeting and killing of journalists, and emphasizing the importance of protecting journalists and freedom of expression. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed in its statement that this decision highlights the important role of journalists and media professionals in providing accurate and independent information to the public, and the need to protect their rights and safety while they carry out their work in light of the current Israeli aggression. The statement said : “The importance of the decision lies in urging all concerned parties to respect the rights of journalists and ensure their safety in conflict zones,” and emphasizing UNESCO’s responsibility to provide protection for journalists and ensure their safety, and condemning any targeting of them as stipulated in the UNESCO Declaration on the Protection of Journalists adopted in 1997. It stressed Palestine’s keenness to enhance the protection of journalists by adhering to the principles of the safety of journalists and combating impunity for crimes committed against them.