Beirut, February 12, 2010

Press release

Israeli soldiers viciously beat Jerusalemite photographers to prevent

them from shooting the undercover attack on Palestinian youths

Jerusalem- SKeyes Special Report

Israeli troops continued their series of attacks on Palestinian journalists and

photographers. On Tuesday February 9, 2010, and for the second time in less than two
days, five Jerusalemite photographers were viciously beaten and humiliated in the
Shuafat camp, at the hands of Israeli soldiers, when they attempted to take pictures of the
undercover soldiers disguised as Arabs who raided the place in order to arrest young men
among the area’s residents. The photographers are: Al-Quds’s photographers the
journalist Atta Ouwaissat and Mahmoud Alian, AFP’s correspondent Ahmad Gharableh,
and Reuter’s photographers Ammar Awad and Sinan Abu Meisar, who then spoke to
SKeyes and gave a detailed account of the attack against them.
Sinan Abu Meisar, who was assaulted with his colleague Ammar Awwad two days ago
as well, said: “I was assaulted by Israeli soldiers who tried to prevent me from taking
pictures of the undercover Israelis who came barefaced. Three soldiers attacked me and
one of them beat me with his hands while the second destroyed my camera and the third
hit me on the face with his rifle”.
Ammar Awwad then gave the following account of the assault against him: “A special
undercover unit came and attempted to detain some young men in the Shuafat camp. We
wanted to take pictures of this, but a unit from the army soon came and encircled us to
prevent us from taking pictures, since their faces were bare. They beat the minors and the
youths in a brutal manner. At that point I tried to take pictures of what was going on, but
the soldiers hit me and attempted to take my camera from me. However, I managed to get
away and insisted on photographing. I took some pictures with great difficulty, especially
after the physical assaults and vandalism we suffered at the hands of the soldiers”.
Mahmoud Alian then said that “the assault took place when an undercover unit attacked
the youths and arrested some. We attempted to get closer and take pictures, but the
occupation soldiers prevented us and began dispersing us using their hands and rifle
butts. At the moment when one of the young men was arrested and taken to the
checkpoint established by the soldiers, we got closer to take pictures. The occupation
soldiers then grabbed me and my colleague the photographer Ahmad Gharableh, and
tried to destroy our cameras with their rifle butts, but we managed to get away with some
difficulty”.
Ahmad Gharableh then narrated the details of the attack, saying: “the undercover officers
entered the area, and four of them attempted to arrest a young man and beat him. I went

Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63, Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel /Fax: 00961 1 397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address: info@skeyesmedia.org
with my colleague Mahmoud to take a picture, but the army prevented us and
manhandled us in a brutal and savage manner. They started beating us and tried to pull
the camera hanging from my neck and hit me with the butts of their rifles. Some
colleagues then rushed to defend us and push the soldiers away. I strongly defended my
camera and they could not pull it from me. The assault caused me bruising in my hand”.
He also added: “I carry an AFP card and a Foreign Press card, but that was useless. This
was not the first time that I am being assaulted, as I was assaulted many times in the past.
It is clear that this is a systemic method used by the army against us violently, because no
one defends Jerusalemite journalists”.
As for Atta Ouwaissat, who has clashed with undercover officer’s dozens of times before,
he said: “I was present in the area when it was stormed by an undercover unit, followed
by a raid by one unit then another from the army. They fired live ammunition and stun
grenades, and attacked us violently to prevent us from taking pictures. I remember the
stun grenade going off near my foot, releasing dense smoke. I also found myself in the
middle of a Special Forces unit rushing towards me. At that point, I felt blurry and dizzy
but I managed to carry on my work. After the incident was over, I felt severe pains in my
abdomen, and the bomb left bruises there and a sulphuric smell on my clothes. But this
has become ordinary for me, as no direct assault took place and I was just harassed and
prevented from taking photographs”. He also noted that “dealing with the undercover
officers is dangerous, in particular when the photographer or journalist is alone and
unaccompanied. They [the undercover officers] enter directly into the scene of any march
to create confusion, and whomever they grab gets beaten in a brutal and vicious manner.
For this reason, the police prevent journalists from photographing them so that their faces
are not revealed and the assault is not documented. Whoever stands in their way or
confronts them gets beaten severely, and these are some of the conditions we live with
and which are, naturally, devoid of any respect for the freedom of expression”.

The SKeyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedom strongly denounces the almost daily
series of Israeli attacks against Palestinian journalists and photographers, targeting them
with gas and stun grenades at times and live and rubber bullets at others, in addition to
brutally assaulting them with hands, batons and rifle butts. SKeyes calls on the
international human rights organizations and other groups concerned with the defence of
journalists around the world, to immediately intervene and place pressure on Israel by all
means available, in order to push the latter into changing its approach in dealing with
Palestinian journalists, and to curb the attacks by its soldiers, police officers, undercover
agents and settlers in all Palestinian territories.

Samir Kassir Foundation, Aref Saghieh Bldg.( Ground Floor), 63, Zahrani St., Sioufi, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel /Fax: 00961 1 397334, Mobile: 00961 3 372717, E-Mail Address: info@skeyesmedia.org