Journalists recount abuse, arrest covering Jerusalem riots
Journalists in Jerusalem say they have faced abuse and arrest by Israeli forces while covering the recent events there.
Al Jazeera correspondent Givara Budeiri was arrested and accused of assaulting a female Israeli police officer and not identifying herself as press while she covered the developments in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on June 5. She claims to have been kicked while in the police car.
Videos of her arrest clearly showed Budeiri wearing her press vest with the logo of the channel and a notebook in hand. The Israeli police released her a few hours later.
Budeiri’s arrest is not an isolated incident. Many attacks by Israeli forces on journalists in east Jerusalem have been recorded since tensions between Palestinians and Israelis rose at Bab al-Amoud (the Damascus Gate) at the beginning of Ramadan (early May), followed by settlers repeatedly raiding Al-Aqsa Mosque and efforts to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah and Batn al-Hawa neighborhoods.
Apparent impunity seems to have increased the boldness of Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem, and more such incidents could surface with the ongoing developments in the city.
