A. Introduction  
 

 This is not the first time PHRMG has written on the issue of freedom of the Palestinian press, although it is the first time that we have done so since the issuing of the presidential decree on incitement. This decree has restricted the freedom of Palestinians in general and the freedom of the press in particular.

 We based our research on interviews with journalists who work in private radio and TV stations, in daily newspapers, in foreign news agencies, and with the Press and Publications Officer at the Ministry of Information. Besides, a huge number of written articles, researches on media topics inside and outside Palestine. Furthermore, there were few workshops on the issue, specially the one organized by al-Haq organization in Ramallah

under the title “Legislation of the prevention of incitement, and ambitions to build a democratic system”.

We faced some difficulties while conducting this research such as; the absence of lists of journalists who were abused (such lists were not available at the Journalists Association or the Ministry of Information) so we journalists had to dig their memories to remember details, many of those journalists left this profession for another career, others were afraid to mention the name of the security service that abused them and some asked for some time to consider his testimony.

 And we wonder: Have violations committed by the Palestinian security organs against Palestinian journalists decreased or increased since the  issuing of the Presidential decree in October 1998?  From the statistics we have been able to compile, we have found that violations committed between 1 January and 30 August 1999 amounted to 6% of the total number of 50 violations that PHRMG has recorded since the coming of the PA in 1994. This % is to be considered low: the percentages for 1996, 1997 and 1998 stood at 30%, 20% and 24% respectively.  This low percentage in 1999 does not, however, indicate a decrease in the red lines drawn by the Authority. Instead, PHRMG has established that there has been an increase in self-censorship by journalists who have been anticipating the Authority’s violations.

 Two thirds of the violations committed against Palestinian journalists took place in Gaza Strip, despite the fact that the number of journalists and the amount of printed material is larger in the West Bank. There are three possible factors explaining these statistics. Firstly, there are no private television and radio stations in Gaza, whereas such stations number 35 in the West Bank. Secondly, the comparatively higher population density of Gaza is a social reality which renders the control of the masses all the more difficult in case the population is encouraged to protest against the Authority on the basis of distributed information. Finally, it may be that the Authority simply has more control over the Gaza Strip than over the West Bank.

 In the light of what the PHRMG has recorded, we have established that most of these violations in the Autonomous Areas have been committed by the Palestinian Security Services. The Ministry of Information has hindered the distribution of newspapers and has closed television stations.

 In section one of the research, we looked at the written press, giving a general background to the daily newspapers prior to 1967, and after that, through the different phases till the coming of the PNA, and then to 1999.

In the second section, under the title “Red lines and self-censorship” we classified the sorts of censorship that face the Palestinian journalist, discussing each of them separately trying to be comprehensive in our approach, thus giving focus on the self-censorship because of its negative effect in limiting the freedom of thinking and writing. In the third section, entitled “The Private radio and TV stations” we indicated how those stations came into existence and developed, and the role of the Ministry of Information in that, and the Israeli and Palestinian violations against them. In section four, entitled “Violations against the Palestinian journalists” we concluded a group of percentages that provide us with a picture in the form of figures on the nature of these violations and the methods adopted in them, and the security services that carry them out. These violations are distributed on the years as they occurred, then we showed the 49 violations in the form of a table as recorded by the PHRMG. The last, fifth, section entitled “Incitement” deals with this issue comprehensively. It starts by mentioning few articles from the “Wye River Memorandum” on the subject, then the Presidential decree forbidding incitement and its legality and whether this decree agrees with international standards for human rights, and its influence on the press, and the Trio Committee (Palestinian – American – Israeli) to prevent incitement which was formed after the Wye agreement.

PHRMG stresses the seriousness of the phenomenon of increasing self-censorship among Palestinian journalists, which not only prevents the publishing of written material and limits freedom of thought, but also hinders the development of our people at the beginning of the 21^st century. Instead, the Palestinian Authority should consecrate our freedoms so as to emanate what other nations of the modern world have achieved so far and should prevent Palestine from being comparable to underdeveloped and undemocratic states, because our people deserve to have the freedom to think. After the many years of suppression and subjugation, our people deserve to have their freedom to think protected.

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