Introduction

On the day of honoring the Palestinian journalists The journalist support committee in Palestine organized a hashtag campaign #Palestine_ongoing_coverage to highlight the violations that the Palestinian journalists and media outlets are subjected to, the event took place Thursday 29 of December 2016, in Al-Quds hall, Gaza, borj shawa and hosary, 7th floor.

Slogans used in the campaign:

• Your participation is a triumph for free and honest speech.
• #Palestine_ongoing_coverage
• Journalism is not terrorism
• Journalism in not a crime
• The occupation in Palestine is pirating the media
• Journalists have the right to work freely without being prosecuted by the Israeli occupation 
• 600 Israeli violations against journalists in 2016
• More than 90 cases of extended arrests of journalists in 2016
• More than 137 journalists arrested in 2016
• Israel prohibited more than 18 journalists from traveling in 2016
• Israel killed a journalist in 2016
• Israel targeted more than 50 journalists with weapons and aggression 
• Israel pursue an abusive policy against the Palestinian media and its activists
• Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the law; no one can prevent or restrict it.
• Israel violates the international laws and conventions that guarantee freedom of opinion and expression
• Israel arrests 23 journalists in its jails
• Israel closed (4) Palestinian radio stations in order to silence the Palestinian voice opposing the occupation
• Israel is blackmailing and threatening the Palestinian patriotic media and its activists.
• Journalists have the right to work freely and to guarantee their protection from the practices of the occupation
• Israel pursues a direct and indirect targeting policy of journalists and media outlets.

Campaign feedback:

The Journalist Support Committee confirmed that the campaign launched on the day of fulfillment to the Palestinian journalist, #Palestine_ongoing_coverage, to highlight the violations suffered by the Palestinian journalists, achieved great success, earning more than 3 million follow, and was spread to more than 40 million twitter user.

The Journalist Support Committee’s coordinator in Palestine, journalist Saleh Al-Masry, said the campaign counts as one of the 8 biggest electronic campaigns held in 2016, clarifying that the campaign was written in 3 languages: Arabic, English and French, with the participation of the following countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, London, France, Algeria and other countries around the world.

Mr. Al-Masry saluted all the press crew, trade union and human rights organizations that called for the participation in the campaign, either by attending the event or by supporting the hashtag on social media.

Mr. Al-Masry stated that the campaign concentrated on the grave violations suffered by the journalists and media outlets in Palestine, from arrest, shooting, confiscation of equipment, launching of poison gas bombs on journalists and seizing their right of expression and shoving approximately 23 journalists in Israeli prisons, in a clear violation of both international norms and conventions.

Mr. Al-Masry affirmed that the journalist support committee is in the process of organizing a campaign demanding the release of journalists detained in Israeli prisons, in particularly sick journalists, calling on all international organizations dealing with journalist rights to exercise pressure on Israel for the release of all Palestinian journalists.