Reporters Without Borders condemns ransacking of Gaza weekly newspaper offices

Reporters Without Borders demanded an early and full investigation after the offices of the weekly newspaper Al-Daar in Gaza City were ransacked during the Muslim Id festival between 1-3 February. The Palestinian Authority should act decisively to prevent attacks against journalists and the media in the territories under its control, the international press freedom organisation said in a letter to the Palestinian interior minister Hakam Balaawi. Contacted by Reporters Without Borders, editor in chief of d'Al-Daar, Hassan Al-Kachef, said that the offices had been ransacked and computers damaged but nothing had been stolen, which ruled out a normal burglary. "I think it is more likely a warning to the newspaper because we broach subjects like corruption within the Palestinian Authority," he said. The correspondent for Al-Arabiya satellite TV was assaulted in Gaza on 8 January 2004. Four months earlier on 13 September a group of armed men ransacked the offices of the same television station in Ramallah. The Palestinian Authority publicly condemned the incidents and announced the opening of an investigation, but nothing more has been heard of it publicly since then. "There has been an alarming rise in acts of vandalism against the media and physical attacks against journalists in the Palestinian territories since September 2003," said Reporters Without Borders in its letter to the minister. "Our organisation calls on you to take action so that these repeated violations of press freedom do not go unpunished. "The interior ministry should in future guarantee the safety of the media, particularly from harassment from paramilitary groups and settling of scores by politicians," it concluded. Reporter Without Borders also asked to be kept informed of the outcome of investigations into previous attacks against Al-Arabiya. Al-Daar is a privately owned weekly that was launched at the end of August 2003. Al-Kachef said it printed around 5,000 copies in Gaza and on the occupied West Bank and also scored around 30,000 weekly hits on its website : www.aldaar.com.