Call for security measures for press after bombing of Al-Arabiya's Gaza office

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the bombing of the Gaza City offices of the Dubai-based pan-Arab satellite TV station Al-Arabiya yesterday, a few days after its journalists received telephone threats over a controversial report about Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh that had led him to say he would bring legal action against the station. “This attack highlights the climate of violence in which journalists are working in the Palestinian territories,” the press freedom organisation said. “We reiterate our call to the Palestinian Authority to thoroughly investigate such attacks. It is also essential that measures are taken to protect the journalists and news media that are threatened.” Reporters Without Borders added: “In the current political tension, we urge the country's authorities not to refer to journalists as ‘enemies' any more. When senior officials, especially the prime minister, stigmatize the work of journalists, this kind of attack is to be feared.” The bomb that was set off yesterday outside the offices of Al-Arabiya, which also houses the bureau of the Saudi TV station MBC, caused considerable damage but no injuries. The bureau of the British news agency Reuters, which is located on the same floor, was slightly damaged. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Arabiya's spokesman in Dubai, Naser Al-Sirami, told Reporters Without Borders by telephone that this was the first time that the privately-owned TV station had sustained an attack of this scale. Less than a week ago, threatening phone calls were received by several of Al-Arabiya's staff in Gaza and their families. The Hamas-led government had also threatened to prosecute the station and suspend its broadcasts in the Palestinian territories if it did not formally apologise for broadcasting footage of a cabinet meeting on 15 January in which Prime Minister Haniyeh said: “No conditional aid will be accepted, not even if it comes from God.” Hamas accused Al-Arabiya of broadcasting the footage out of context. The Palestinian Union of Journalists staged a demonstration today outside the premises of the Palestinian Legislative Council in protest against the bombing.