Israeli commander who blocked the writer’s entrance to the village of Kafr Qaddoum – as clashes were taking place – for over two hours. Credit: Mel Frykberg/IPS

By Mel Frykberg
KAFR QADDOUM, West Bank, Apr 7 2015 (IPS)

It is becoming increasingly risky to cover clashes and protests between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank as the number of journalists injured, in what appears to be deliberate targeting by Israeli security forces, continues to rise.

During the last 12 months, Israel’s Foreign Press Association (FPA) has issued numerous protests at the manhandling, harassment and shooting of both members of the foreign media and Palestinian journalists.

“The Foreign Press calls on the Israeli border police (a paramilitary unit) to put an immediate end to a wave of attacks on journalists. In just over a week, border police officers have carried out at least four attacks on journalists working for international media organisations, injuring reporters and damaging expensive equipment. These attacks all appear to have been unprovoked,” was one of many statements released by the FPA last year.The rising trend of Israeli security forces using live ammunition against Palestinian protesters has expanded to include journalists as well.

“A change in policy appears to be the reason for unprecedented aggressive behaviour by the authorities against journalists covering demonstrations in Jerusalem,” read another FPA statement.

The assaults have included shooting rubber-coated metal bullets directly at journalists on a regular basis.

Tear gas canisters, which under Israeli law are meant to be shot from a safe distance in an upward arch so as not to endanger life, have also been shot directly at journalists from close range even when the journalists were out of the line of fire.

The rising trend of Israeli security forces using live ammunition against Palestinian protesters has expanded to include journalists as well.

Palestinian journalists and cameramen working for foreign agencies and local media appear to be bearing the brunt of these attacks, because assaulting and abusing Palestinians, males in particular, is an integral part of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

A colleague of IPS, a cameraman from Palestine TV, was shot in the leg several months ago with a 0.22 inch calibre bullet fired from a Ruger rifle by an Israeli sniper as he filmed a clash in the northern West Bank village of Kafr Qaddoum.

Palestinian journalists in the line of fire. Credit: Mel Frykberg/IPS

On a previous occasion, as he left the village, Israeli soldiers pulled his vehicle over, dragged him out and assaulted him.

Another IPS colleague, a cameraman from Reuters, was shot twice in both legs with a metal bullet with a 0.5 mm rubber coating at one Friday protest. The previous week he had been targeted directly with a tear gas canister.

“We are very concerned about the marked increase in the number of Palestinian journalists being deliberately targeted by the Israeli security forces,” said Reporters Without Borders in a statement  on the increase in violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinian journalists released last year.

“We reiterate our call to the Israeli authorities, especially the military, to respect the physical integrity of journalists covering demonstrations and we remind them that the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on 28 March recognising the importance of media coverage of protests and condemning any attacks or violence against the journalists covering them.”

The situation was even worse during the Gaza war from July to August last year, when 17 Palestinian journalists were killed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) even when they were not in the proximity of the fighting.

IPS has witnessed numerous attacks on journalists over the years and has also been harassed by Israeli soldiers when trying to cover clashes.

Last Friday, I was held up for over two hours in the sun by Israeli soldiers as I tried to enter Kafr Qaddoum where major clashes were taking place.

During this time other members of the media, ambulances and other protesters were refused entrance.

With Israeli government press accreditation, an accreditation denied to most Palestinian journalists, I was able to contact the IDF spokesman who coordinated my entrance, but only after several hours of standing in the sun.

I was neither assaulted nor was any of my equipment confiscated from me, another privilege of being white and Western.

Another Palestinian colleague and cameraman came in for very different treatment a month ago when he had had his camera confiscated by an Israeli soldier outside the Jelazon refugee camp, near Ramallah.

When he tried to retrieve his expensive piece of equipment he was warned to back off and knew better than to pursue the issue.

However, when I took the matter up with the commanding officer the camera was returned to its owner after the officer had taken me aside on a charm offensive while ordering the Palestinian journalists to stand back.

On another occasion, I was accompanying a Palestinian ambulance which was trying to reach Jelazon camp to help Palestinian youths injured during clashes with the IDF.

Several military jeeps blocked the roads leading to the camp and refused to move when asked by the ambulance driver.

After I got out and spoke to the soldiers, showing them my credentials yet again, the jeep moved to the side and allowed the ambulance to continue.

The Israelis still appear to be sensitive to a certain degree to how they are portrayed in the Western media.

This has become apparent to me when covering violent clashes. As soon as it has been established that I am Australian, white and a woman, the aggression of the Israeli soldiers has abated and they have tried to get me on side by asking me if I am alright and warning me to take care,

However, I know that I too could easily fall prey to Israeli ammunition if I am not exceedingly careful so, on this basis, I choose to stay well away from the frontlines of clashes.

Edited by Phil Harris  

Turkish police have been using excessive force against unarmed protestors. Credit: Arzu Geybulla/IPS

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 20 2013 (IPS)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay have advised “maximum restraint” following media reports of a violent police crackdown on peaceful protestors in Istanbul’s Gezi Park.

In a statement on Jun. 18 Pillay said, “The atmosphere is still…highly combustible, it is important that authorities recognise that the initial extremely heavy-handed response to the protests, which resulted in many injuries, is still a major part of the problem.”

The Turkish Medical Association last week reported nearly 7,500 protest-related injuries since the occupation of the park began at the end of May, and at the time of writing six have died.

Pillay urged the Turkish government to take “all necessary measures to ensure that police forces do not resort to excessive use of force… The aim should be to minimise damage and injury, and respect and preserve human life.”

The protests began as a peaceful complaint over land use in Gezi Park – an island of green in the middle of the concrete Taksim Square – but expanded swiftly into an anti-government uprising in many cities around Turkey.

One of the 50 original Gezi Park protesters, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Bengi, told IPS: “I have been a part of the protest from its very beginning. I’m not surprised at the police violence, as Turkey has a tradition of violence, suppression and police brutality.”

She acknowledged that attempts over the last decade to move closer to EU succession have led to a decrease in open state hostility, “so in a sense this reaction could be seen as strange.”

Expected or unexpected, the violence has been extreme and has grabbed media attention and the eyes of the world’s leading rights bodies, with watchdogs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch strongly condemning the actions of heavily armed security forces against peaceful demonstrators.

Bengi sees this violent response as a direct result of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “wayward” decision making. “The Prime Minister has shown a lack of effective management, and simply wants to prove to the people that what he says will be done.”

Many have questioned Erdoğan’s administration of the police force since the protests began, including the widespread use of gas canisters against the population.

Two protestors are reported to have died due to gas canisters; Abdullah Comert, 22, a youth member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, was killed after being struck in the head by a canister in Hatay, close to the Syrian border in southern Turkey, while cleaning worker Irfan Tuna died after having been subjected to powerful tear gas in Kızılay Square in Ankara.

The U.N. high commissioner drew specific attention to the use of these canisters by police forces in her statement on Jun. 18.

“Reports that tear gas canisters and pepper spray were fired at people from close range, or into closed spaces, and the alleged misuse of rubber bullets, need to be promptly, effectively, credibly and transparently investigated,” she stressed.

The Turkish Medical Association says many of the injured have reported respiration disorders caused by tear gas, and musculoskeletal system injuries (soft tissue injuries, cuts, burns and fractures), which are related with close-quarter shots of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. They also reported tear gas being released into a clinic in Ankara.

Kimber Heinz, organising coordinator of the ‘Facing Tear Gas’ (FTG) campaign spearheaded by U.S.-based War Resisters League, told IPS that gas, pepper spray and other chemicals weapons have become a popular tool among oppressive governments to quell democratic uprisings.

“We started hearing a lot of calls around 2011 from places like Egypt, how there were canisters being used by police to injure people and suppress popular resistance movements.” Many of these canisters, she said, carried “Made in USA” labels.

“There are now reports coming out of Istanbul that canisters produced by NonLethal Technologies, based in Homer City, Pennsylvania and Defense Technologies based in Casper, Wyoming, have been found on the ground in Gezi Park,” Heinz added.

Facing Tear Gas has helped promote a petition, authored by American-Turkish lawyer Kerem Gulay, that calls on three U.S. congressmen to propose legislation that could stem the flow of tear gas to countries that are violently stifling peaceful protests.

The petition cites the fact that some 150,000 canisters were used across Turkey between May 28 and Jun. 16, and that in the same period 12,000 people received medical care for exposure to multiple forms of tear gas. The primary target of the petition, Senator P. Leahy from Vermont, was unavailable for comment.

While the U.S. represents a spigot that can be tightened to choke the supply of these products to Turkey, Bengi is unsure that such a call has resonated with the Turkish population yet.

“Right now people are still trying to shake off the shock of sustained use of tear gas. Their anger is entirely focused on the Turkish government,” she said.