The Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign expresses its solidarity with Watan TV and the Al Quds Educational TV as they have been raided by the Israeli army on Thursday night, February 29.
The Israeli army invaded the TV stations and ransacked them. The military stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, including transmitters and antennas, from Watan TV. In addition to this, they took the entire video archive of Watan TV; a purely destructive act that is utterly unrelated to the false “air frequencies dispute” pretext under which the entire repressive operation was staged.
As independent media, both TV stations have since 1996 played a key role in providing alternative views and information from and to our people. Independent media is an essential element in the Palestinian people’s struggle. It ensures that the voice of the people is heard, thrives to create true discussion and participation and contributes to the strengthening of our struggle against Israeli occupation, apartheid and colonialism.
This attack on Palestinian independent media is part of the escalating attack by Israel on all levels. Settlers are staging arson attacks and attack farmers, home demolitions are still on the rise, thousands are in prison, new racist and anti-democratic laws are passed and proposed.
This attack is proof how Israel is not content stealing Palestinian land and water and underground resources – Israel claims full control over Palestinian air as well.
These attacks on the two TV stations are a grave infringement of Palestinian freedom of expression and are part of the overall Israeli repression policy aimed at silencing the people.
We call on the international community to condemn and sanction Israel for this further escalation of attack on the Palestinian people. We ask independent media and media activists to support Palestinian community media and help giving the Palestinian people a voice. We ask them to intensify boycott and divestment campaigns against Israel until it respects international law and Palestinian human and national rights.