Deutsche Presse-Agentur

GAZA, 16 February 2004 — The Palestinian Journalists Union launched an open-ended strike yesterday to protest attacks on reporters, union officials said. The decision to strike was made Saturday at a meeting of the union called to protest repeated assaults on several Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip carried out by unknown individuals.

The journalists also decided to stage a sit-in at the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) building in Gaza City, as part of the protest against the assaults. The union said in a statement that the journalist had decided to boycott covering news events and statements, save those related to Premier Ahmed Qorei, until the Palestinian officials and the police discovered who stood behind the attacks on journalists in Gaza.

They warned they would escalate their strike to include coverage of Qorei, unless the Palestinian Authority apprehended and tried the perpetrators of the attacks. Dozens of Palestinian journalists, reporters and correspondents staged a one-day strike last week to protest the assaults, and refused to report any news from the Gaza Strip to all local, Arab and international media outlets.

The most recent assault on a journalist in Gaza took place Friday, when unknown individuals torched the car belonging to a journalist working for the Palestinian Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda daily.