BBC Avoids Mention of Hamas Attacking Journalists

[Teddy Bear]

To understand the context of this topic you need to first read this article as reported by Reuters on March 15th:

Palestinian unity rally in Gaza ends in violence
(Reuters) - Violence broke out after a rally for Palestinian unity in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday when Hamas supporters beat other participants with clubs, witnesses said, though the Islamist group denied being behind any violence.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had answered a rallying call on Facebook to demonstrate in Gaza and the West Bank for reconciliation between Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas's rival Fatah group.

About 2,000 demonstrators remained on the streets of Gaza as the rally wound down, defying calls to disperse by Hamas, which controls the territory. Hamas supporters then attacked the crowd, injuring at least a dozen people, witnesses said.

"They attacked us, 400 to 500 Hamas men in plain clothes. I was beaten with a club, many others were beaten," said one activist, giving his first name Ali. "They dispersed the crowd."

Hamas denied the accusations, saying on its website that the crowd broke up after "clashes between different youth groups."

It was the first time Hamas's authority had been challenged in such a public manner since it seized control of Gaza from rivals loyal to the Western-backed Abbas in 2007.

Organizers of the rallies said revolts against authoritarian leaders elsewhere in the Arab world had inspired them to act.

Before the clashes Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in Gaza, said in a televised speech he respected the will of the people to establish a unified Palestinian leadership, and called on Abbas to meet him.

"I invite President Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the Fatah movement to an immediate meeting, here in the Gaza Strip or in any other place, to launch a comprehensive dialogue," Haniyeh said.

"This could be the doorway to achieving reconciliation."

BIG RALLIES IN GAZA

Rallies drew close to 100,000 protesters from various groups in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where unemployment is over 50 percent. "The people want to end the division," one crowd chanted.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, where only 4,000 joined a rally, Abbas renewed his call for presidential and parliamentary elections, which Hamas has repeatedly rejected.

"Elections are the only way to end this ugly and unacceptable division," he told reporters after talks with the visiting president of Cyprus.

Salam Fayyad, Abbas's prime minister, told reporters in the West Bank that ending the split was "a national priority." "I hope the call will be heeded ... we need to be able to bring this sad chapter to a close."

While the BBC are happy to report the fact that 'Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to travel to Gaza to try and end the division between his Fatah party and the Islamist movement Hamas', and this story is one that they consider important enough to feature it on their main Mid-East web-page, the demonstration in Gaza and subsequent violence seems to have been overlooked by them.


This in itself is something worthy enough to post here as evidence of the BBC biased agenda, since they are reporting the violence against demonstrators by the various regimes throughout the Arab/Muslim world, but not it appears when committed by Hamas. Their agenda is even more magnified with the latest update to the above story. It appears that journalists from various news organisation based in Gaza have also been assaulted by Hamas for reporting on the violence against demonstrators, but since the BBC didn't report it, their staff stayed safe.

Just to try and avoid raising any eyebrows, the BBC didn't run any story on the assault against the other journalists. After all, people might wonder why the BBC journalists weren't attacked as well. The BBC is 'brave and fearless' when it comes to demonizing Israel, much more than reporting the truth about the Palestinians.

Gaza journalists demand end to Hamas assaults
Reuters

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip protested to the territory's Hamas rulers on Saturday after security forces assaulted a local TV cameraman.
A delegation met interior minister Fathi Hammad and government press officials after police stormed the local office of international news agency Reuters and broke the hand of Palestinian cameraman Abed Shanna, who was filming from the roof.
Colleagues said police were seeking to stop him recording images of security forces in a square below breaking up a protest by youngsters calling for reconciliation between rivals Hamas and Fatah, which controls the West Bank.
The local journalists' union said police in the square harassed news photographers and confiscated materials and equipment.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents foreign media staff in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said several news organisations' employees were attacked.
"During a small protest, Hamas forces beat up an Associated Press Middle East Services cameraman and briefly detained him and his driver," a statement said.
"Hamas forces then ransacked the Reuters office in the city in searching for video evidence of this abuse. Reuters equipment was vandalized and employees were beaten and intimidated, with Hamas forces threatening to throw one worker out of the window," it said.
The statement said CNN television and Japanese broadcaster NHK experienced similar raids.
"We demand that these tactics -- which run counter to the rule of law and to the basic norms of legitimate government behavior -- cease immediately," it said.
Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement after the meeting between journalists and Hammad that Hamas pledged to prevent a repetition of such actions.
"The Hamas movement condemns aggression against journalists and media in Gaza," it said.
"Aggression against journalists is unacceptable and we are asking the government to set up immediately a committee of inquiry and to stop all aggression against journalists."
On Tuesday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Palestinian territories to demand that Hamas and Fatah end their bitter enmity.
But despite leaders of the two movements agreeing to meet, the Islamist group has since used force and threatening acts to disperse several follow-up demonstrations in Gaza.
On Saturday, New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch called on Hamas to punish those responsible for violence against protesters.
"It is a dismal reflection on Hamas that it is violently cracking down on peaceful demonstrators calling for political reconciliation," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the organisation's Middle East director.
"This is just the latest instance of Hamas assaulting Palestinians? fundamental freedoms," it said, citing testimony of protesters and bystanders who said security forces used batons and cattle-prods, fired into the air and rode motorcycles at people.
"Local authorities aren?t fooling anyone by hiding behind thugs who assault protesters," it said. "The Palestinian people deserve leaders, whether Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, who will respect their basic rights."

[Teddy Bear]

A full week after the rest of the media has already reported the event and moved on, the BBC plucks up enough courage to run an article on it, now the danger of attack against them has receded.

Though I can imagine their response to their Hamas 'masters' when questioned as to why they had to run the story at all - "We had to say something after everybody else did otherwise people might think we weren't balanced and impartial".

But just to minimise any impact the story might have it is carefully concealed beneath these headlines Gaza Strip residents seek to join the 'Arab spring'

Of all the ways one could convey this story in the headlines, this surely must rank as the most obtuse. One could almost think the BBC didn't want you to associate what really happened from the headlines

Gaza Strip residents seek to join the 'Arab spring'
By Jon Donnison BBC News, Gaza City
22 March 2011 Last updated at 08:23

Gazans will often tell you they are a rare breed. Tough and resilient are two qualities sometimes attributed.

A friend of mine's cat recently leapt from the tenth floor of a tower block in Gaza City, yet emerged with just a few grazes and a bit of a limp. It was a Gazan cat, I was told.

On Saturday afternoon, I witnessed toughness and resilience shown by two young Gazan women who had been trying to demonstrate in one of the main squares in Gaza city.

They were part of a small protest calling for political unity between Hamas, who are in power in Gaza, and Fatah, who run parts of the West Bank.

As they were surrounded by Hamas security officers wielding thick wooden batons and hurling abuse, the two slight young women remained firm, refusing to move.

Eventually, they were beaten by female Hamas officers, thrown into a police pick-up truck and driven away. It is not known what has happened to them.

A little earlier, one of my colleagues saw a young man being set upon and heavily beaten with sticks by up to 10 Hamas officers. The man was also arrested.

Hamas officials said the young people did not a have a permit to demonstrate and that the protest was illegal.

There was a strange atmosphere of menace and intimidation in the square. As many people simply went about their Saturday afternoon shopping, journalists and human rights workers tried to blend into the crowd, aware that anyone who raised a camera would have it taken away from them.

Later, armed men who said they were from Hamas's internal security forces raided the offices of the Reuters news agency as well as CNN and the Japanese broadcaster NHK.

At the Reuters office, one journalist was beaten on the arm with an iron bar. Another was threatened with being thrown out of the window from the ninth floor.

The men smashed a television and other equipment and confiscated a camera. It was later returned.

Other news agencies have reported that their journalists have been arrested and attacked by police this week as they tried to cover pro-unity demonstrations.

The Hamas interior ministry has since condemned the attacks on journalists and said some of those involved have been arrested.
Opportunity for change

The demonstrators in Gaza say they have been inspired by the uprisings elsewhere in the region. You sense they see an opportunity to try and make a change.

They are calling for an end to the division between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah.

For four years, Palestinians have been politically and geographically divided. The split happened a year after Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006.

Fierce fighting between the two factions in June 2007 led to Fatah being forced from Gaza.

Palestinian political leaders say they are listening to these calls for unity. Last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is from the Fatah faction, accepted a Hamas invitation to visit Gaza within days to meet with Hamas leaders.

Hamas initially welcomed the move, but both sides now seem to be attaching conditions to the visit. It seems unlikely it will happen this week, if at all.

Many Palestinians see the lack of unity as a distraction from their main priority, their struggle to end Israel's continuing occupation.

But so far here the popular protests have been relatively small-scale compared to elsewhere in the region.

The largest occurred on 15 March when more than 10,000 young Gazans took to the streets.

Hamas initially allowed that demonstration to happen. But in the evening, it was broken up with force, Hamas police again using batons to disperse the crowds.

Some protesters reported being beaten and even stabbed by Hamas security forces.
Hamas support

The question for the demonstrators here to be what next.

At the moment, their protests seem a little disjointed and disorganised. How far are they prepared to go? At the moment, not as far as in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain or Syria.

On Sunday, more than 1,000 students again gathered at the main campus of al-Azhar University in Gaza City.

This time, the police left them alone and remained outside the university gates. The university is regarded as a Fatah institution.

On one side of the campus, young women in a vibrant range of coloured headscarves and bling sunglasses chanted for unity.

On the other side, young men rode on each other's shoulders, waving Palestinian flags.

The students did not demonstrate outside the campus, fearing this would receive a hostile response.

Hamas seems uncertain how to handle the protests. Publicly, some of the party's leaders say they back the calls for unity. But on the ground, security forces and police are sending a different message.

The Islamic movement continues to have a large support base in Gaza. When it organises its own rallies, tens of thousands of people sometimes attend.

At the moment, many of the demonstrators say they are non-political and not anti-Hamas.

But that could change if the authorities continue to use force to suppress any future protests.

[Teddy Bear]

More on developments on this story as Hamas 'promises' not to harass journalists in future without 'due legal justification', as they like to call it. Considering they decide what's legal or not, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Strange that no BBC journalists or offices there have been attacked, and I do say that sarcastically.

Hamas in Gaza: Media offices to no longer be raided ‘without due legal justification’

Fri. 25 Mar. 2011 @ 18.10 –

Hamas vows to stop the arrest, assault and harassment of journalists, following press complaints.

As Just Journalism reported on Monday, the office of the Reuters news agency in Gaza was recently invaded by armed security forces, who proceeded to physically intimidate the journalists:

‘Several armed men entered Reuters’ office in Gaza on Saturday, threatened employees with guns and took away a video camera, apparently after they spotted a reporter filming a demonstration from the building. The men struck one Reuters journalist on the arm with a metal bar and threatened to throw another out of the window of the high-rise block. The group, which numbered about 10 men, smashed a television set and other equipment before leaving.’

Today, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an is reporting that Hamas has vowed to cease its campaign of harassment against independent media. ‘Hamas govt promises to ease media restrictions’ notes that Hassen Abu Hasheesh, head of Hamas’ media office, has stated that the Islamist party ‘decided to end [the] harassment of journalists in the Gaza Strip’:

‘After consulting with the minister of interior, Fathi Hammad, and as a result of a quick meeting between media colleagues and the minister about incidents that have taken place in recent days, we decided not to harass any journalists.’

Hasheesh added that journalists would no longer be subject to the treatment they have received in the last week:

‘The government in Gaza will not intimidate local media “through beating, cursing, insulting or chasing the journalists or raiding their offices without due legal justification,” Abu Hasheesh said.’

Additionally, Hamas would ‘stop arresting journalists and will release any journalist who is detained’.

While Hasheesh argued that Hamas policy has always respected media freedom, he admitted there had been occasional lapses:

‘this was the Hamas government’s policy from the beginning, “based on press freedoms and respecting the media. What has happened from time to time is due to political tensions.”’

The Foreign Press Association, which recently accused Hamas of a ‘disturbing pattern of harassment and intimidation’, was nonetheless sceptical of how sincere this apparent change of direction would prove:

‘“Unfortunately, our past appeals for press freedom have repeatedly been ignored by Hamas,” an FPA statement said. “We again demand that Hamas allow journalists to do their work and respect the basic right of freedom of the press. Continued harassment will affect coverage of the story.”’