On The Occasion Of The International Day Of Press Freedom

On The Occasion Of The International Day Of Press Freedom, The Government Media Office Congratulates Journalists And Invites Reconciliation

Translated by Ibraheem Ghunaim

On 3rd May each year the journalists of the world mark the International Day of Press Freedom, an initiative launched by UNESCO and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly to be an annual international celebration of freedom of the press, and to remember those who have died pursuing freedom of expression and opinion.

This is the day to remind the international community of its commitments to various international instruments to respect freedoms and to allow for the freedom of expression. It also reminds everyone of the rights of journalists to expression and to convey information and facts without interference and restriction.

The Government Media Office offers its congratulations to all Palestinian journalists, hoping that Palestinian reconciliation will be achieved and that its journalists will start to create an atmosphere of co-operation to enhance the culture of reconciliation in the media.

On the International Day of Press Freedom, we remember the suffering of Palestinian journalists, and those who have sacrificed their lives to publish the truth, such as many of our colleagues. Those are the martyrs of the reliable word and the responsible media. In addition, we will remember those who were arrested, wounded and tortured, and those whose cameras were broken and films were snatched.

We will never shirk our responsibility in the stand-off between the brave prisoners and the Zionists, which started with an open hunger-strike to achieve self-determination and protection of the prisoners’ rights.

Accordingly, every journalist should be characterized by responsibility and do their best to convey the suffering of the prisoners in making their demands which international conventions guarantee.

The Media office confirms that policies for the protection of press work and freedom of opinion and expression needs to be updated to organize media work and keep up with developments in the media and telecommunication fields.

The Government Media Office works to provide media training to develop performance in various working categories in the press and journalism fields, to advance their capabilities to meet the burdens placed on them and confront the propaganda targeting the rights of Palestinians.

On this occasion, which takes place in an atmosphere of a democratically- elected association of journalists, we hope that it effectively fulfils its role along with other governmental organizations.

In honour of the occasion, the Government Media Office confirms the following:

1. We welcome the various efforts of journalists and congratulate all colleagues, and remember the martyrs of the media who sacrifice their lives for the sake of freedom and their job.

2. We stress the scope and state of media freedom in the Gaza Strip, and emphasize that we pursue any exigency related to our job.

3. We condemn the daily attacks carried out by the Israeli occupation against journalists in the West bank and occupied Jerusalem. We call upon everyone to condemn every such attack.

4. We hope that members of the media support reconciliation and back other media outlets to play a national role in serving the interests of the Palestinian people.

5. We call upon all factions and bodies which are interested in the media to mark this occasison, the International Day of Press Freedom, by all possible means and to make it an opportunity for integration and co-operation to improve and support the ethics of this job of journalism.

Government Media Office
Gaza
Palestine
03 May 2012

ENDS

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