PALESTINIAN FREEDOM OF THE PRESS (TO BE ASSASSINATED)

Palestinian journalists receive death threats By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian journalists covering the ongoing crisis in the Palestinian Authority complained over the weekend that they had received death threats from the various feuding parties.  As a result, many of them said they have stopped covering the internecine fighting. Others said they were continuing to report on the power struggle, but without having their names mentioned for fear of reprisal.

"Many Palestinians working with the foreign media in the Gaza Strip are being threatened," a journalist in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post. He said the threats were coming from all the parties involved in the internal strife.  "The Palestinian Authority is putting a lot of pressure on the journalists to refrain from covering the anti-corruption protests," he added. "The Fatah gunmen and the security forces are also making threats."

Last Thursday, many Palestinian journalists received phone calls warning them to stay away from a rally organized in Gaza City against PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's decision to appoint his cousin, Musa Arafat, as overall commander of security forces.

The journalists said they believe that Musa Arafat loyalists were behind the threats.