Israeli occupation forces detains five journalists in Bethlehem
The Israeli occupation forces detained on Tuesday afternoon five journalists in Al-Khader village in Bethlehem during their coverage of one of the Palestinian families suffering due to the Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks against them.
The journalist Mamduh Natshe, a reporter for Al-Quds TV, told PIC that he visited, along with four other journalists, the home of al-Bulbol family who was subjected to frequent attacks by the Israeli settlers and occupation forces, in the area of al-Khader in Bethlehem and Israeli occupation soldier came and arrested them.
The four other journalists are Abdul Ghani Natshe, Pal Media cameraman, Fadi Assa, correspondent for Radio Bethlehem 2000, Iyad Abu Shalbak, photographer for al-Arz company in Jerusalem, and Suhaib Assa, al- Aqsa Satellite channel’s correspondent.
He said that the occupation forces forced them to stop filming, and held them for more than an hour, claiming that they were in a forbidden zone, and examined the filmed material, and informed them that the area is a military zone. The journalists were released sometime later.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian media forum strongly condemned the direct Israeli attack on nine Palestinian journalists, who were detained and tortured in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank.
The Forum said in a statement on Tuesday that the latest attack took place on Tuesday afternoon where five journalists in Al-Khader village in Bethlehem were detained during their coverage of one of the Palestinian families suffering due to the Israeli settlers’ repeated attacks against them.
The Forum quoted Akram Natsheh as saying that “on 13 December 2012, we received news about the death of a boy at checkpoint 160 in al-Khalil, and immediately we went to the place where we were attacked by a group of Israeli soldiers, estimated to be twenty soldiers.”
The Israeli soldiers fired two shots in the air and told us to lie down. We raised our hands and they started to beat us up aggressively.”
They started to give us different orders, to stand and sit in the same time, while beating us continuously, he added.
The Forum demanded the international journalist unions for urgent action to stop these violations and to prosecute the Israeli leaders.
