{"id":45480,"date":"2013-04-10T14:09:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T13:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uncut.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=9537"},"modified":"2013-04-23T15:57:26","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T14:57:26","slug":"an-interview-with-one-of-gazas-banned-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=45480","title":{"rendered":"An interview with one of Gaza\u2019s banned journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 25 December 2012, Gaza\u2019s Hamas government announced<\/a> a ban on Palestinian journalists working with Israeli media.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This decision affected just three journalists in Gaza<\/a>, one of whom is 25-year-old Abeer Ayyoub. Abeer went from working as a fixer for visiting foreign journalists to writing stories herself, and in the process landing a job with Israeli newspaper Ha\u2019aretz. Starting at the beginning of the last attack on Gaza in November 2012, she quickly made a name for herself by breaking stories that most journalists operating in the Strip had never realised existed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"AA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I spoke to Abeer about what the ban means for her work, and for the state of press freedom in Gaza today<\/em><\/p>\n

Ruth Michaelson: When we spoke the other day, you described working for Ha\u2019aretz as \u201cyour dream\u201d. Why did you want to work with Israeli media?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abeer Ayyoub<\/strong>: Because I wanted to be the Palestinian voice in Israeli media, to send a message and cover these events from Palestinian eyes — I didn\u2019t want Israeli journalists to be talking about something they\u2019ve never seen [Israeli citizens are banned from entering Gaza]. So I wanted to be the one talking to Israelis, to communicate exactly what is going on here. Most Israelis are misled about what life is like here — they think that we\u2019re all terrorists, which is not the case: Gaza has many civilians who have nothing to do with resistance. Sure, they have their own affiliations, but people have lives here, and they want to live in peace.<\/p>\n

RM: Did you feel under threat while you were working for Ha\u2019aretz?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: No, never. People showed understanding about my reasons for doing this; my family, my colleagues, even the Gaza authorities were supportive when I asked them before starting at Ha\u2019aretz. They told me that they were in favour of having Palestinians writing for the Israeli media. The criticisms I heard or felt came from people who aren\u2019t involved with the media, so I didn\u2019t take them seriously.<\/p>\n

RM: Why did you decide to talk to the Hamas government before going to work for Israeli media? <\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: I hate to do things in secret: I want to do everything under the light. I wasn\u2019t asking for permission, I was just informing them of what was going on. They told me \u201cgo ahead, we never banned anyone from working with Israeli media, and it\u2019s the same for you.\u201d It was the head of media relations in Gaza who told me that, the same person who later told me I was banned.<\/p>\n

RM: What reason did Hamas give for the ban?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: There were several different reasons given — that Israeli media is hostile to us, and that Israel doesn\u2019t allow Palestinians to go inside and cover what\u2019s going on, so we\u2019re not going to allow them to do the same here. But the third and most depressing reason is that they expressed concern that journalists who work with Israeli media will ultimately become spies.<\/p>\n

RM: Why do you think they changed their minds like this? <\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: It\u2019s been very difficult to figure this out, as the reasons kept changing — especially as they banned their officials from talking with Israeli media in the same ruling. They certainly have their reasons, but it\u2019s none of the reasons they\u2019ve made public.<\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: So how were you informed about the ban?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: Just like everyone around me, I read it in the papers. No one called me or contacted me to let me know. So after I read about it, I went to the media office and asked them if they were serious about this. They told me that they were, and that I had no other choice but to submit to this decision. Initially I thought that I wouldn\u2019t submit to this, but then I reasoned that I have no wish to create extra problems for myself.<\/p>\n

RM: What were the risks involved if you hadn\u2019t complied?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: The statement said that anyone working for Israeli media will be \u201cpunished\u201d: I didn\u2019t want punishment or to be arrested, as I have work that I still want to do here nonetheless. The thing is that a lot of normal people on the ground are against working with Israeli media, so I didn\u2019t think that I would find a lot of support. I decided to stop for a while until things change, and I\u2019m sure that they will change, because Hamas tend to take decisions like this and then repeal them at a later date.<\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: What do you think is the reason behind such a sweeping ruling that only affects three people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: This is the thing — there have been allegations that there are people who work for Israeli media in secret, with no bylines. But again, this was a ruling also designed to affect Hamas officials, and I believe this was aimed primarily at them. Once again, the reason for this will be anything except the reasons they gave.<\/p>\n

RM: The timing of the decision seems political, in that it came after the ceasefire with Israel. Do you think that this has anything to do with the ruling?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: This was one of Hamas\u2019s claims, that Israel had targeted journalists during the war, and so if Israel doesn\u2019t respect our journalists then we don\u2019t want them to work with Israel. How these two things are related is something that I don\u2019t personally understand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0RM: How comfortable do you feel working as a journalist in Gaza now, following this ban?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: I feel comfortable at the moment, my relationship with the government is good. I work a lot with other forms of international media, and things seem to be okay. Sometimes [the Hamas government] remind me, with provocations or questions about whether I\u2019m still working with Ha\u2019aretz, that they are still focused on this, even if they say it as a joke. But this to me is nothing too serious.<\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: Many elements of both Israeli and Palestinian life are hidden from view given the restrictions on freedom of movement, do you feel like the decision contributes to this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: Exactly. Now there is a real problem — things are disjointed. I can\u2019t express myself within Israeli media: this is permitting any potential media bias, or at the very least reports lacking in sufficient information.<\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: What will be missing from Israeli media discourse as a result of this decision?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: Basically I think the gap between civilians on both sides will be widened. We only know about their government, and they only know about ours. The things that I wanted to write about were what normal, everyday people are doing — people like me or my family and friends: we hate the on-going conflict. We believe in resistance, but things are not like the normal depiction of Palestinians in the media, which is likely to portray us as inherently violent.<\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: What would you say is the state of press freedom in Gaza?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AA<\/strong>: I would say it’s changing from time to time, sometimes we have enough space to write, but other times we are denied our simplest rights. It\u2019s the case\u00a0wherever; governments always try to control\u00a0journalism\u00a0when it comes to writing about them.<\/p>\n

Ruth Michaelson is a freelance journalist. She tweets at @_Ms_R<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 25 December 2012, Gaza’s Hamas government announced a ban on Palestinian journalists working with Israeli media.  This decision affected just three journalists in Gaza, one of whom is 25-year-old Abeer Ayyoub. Abeer went from working as a fixer for visiting foreign journalists to writing stories herself, and in the process landing a job with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Starting at the beginning of the last attack on Gaza in November 2012, she quickly made a name for herself by breaking stories that most journalists operating in the Strip had never realised existed. I spoke to Abeer about what the ban means for her work, and for the state of press freedom in Gaza today Ruth Michaelson: When we spoke the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4060,5257],"tags":[7433,337,1228,7383,183,727],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45757,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45480\/revisions\/45757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}