They cover the confrontations and the funerals of the martyrs daily.. Touching testimonies of Palestinian women journalists from the field

Nablus

- At first glance, the Palestinian journalist, Diana Khuwelid, thought that she had escaped a bullet fired by an Israeli occupation soldier at her while she was covering with her colleagues a demonstration against settlement in the village of Beita (south of Nablus). Indeed, the bullet hit the trunk of an olive tree near her, but the next bullet minutes later did not miss her. It hit her in the thigh.

Khuwaylid testified about the violations and dangers she is exposed to as a field journalist, in a hearing organized by the "Felestinet" (civilian) organization for a number of female journalists covering the daily incursions and confrontations in the northern areas of the West Bank, especially Nablus and Jenin.

Journalist Khuwelid told Al-Jazeera Net that she and her fellow journalists always take a neutral position between the demonstrators and the occupation soldiers, and wear press uniforms, especially the shield and helmet, but she was not spared from the occupation's gunshots and suffocating gas.

Khuwelid - who works as a correspondent for the German News Agency - added that the soldiers, in the event of her injury, distinguished the journalists by virtue of the close distance and their known uniforms, "but they did not care and fired fire and gas directly at me, and one of them threw 3 gas bombs at me, as the soldiers consider the journalist a permanent target."

A hearing session for Palestinian women journalists giving their testimonies about covering Israeli violations and their impact on them (Al-Jazeera)

Psychological suffering and constant anxiety

This was not the only incident in which Khuwaylid was injured. Throughout her work in the field of journalism for 6 years, she lived with difficult psychological effects as a result of the coverage in the field. He recalled the impact of the killing of the boy Mahdi Hashash by the occupation in Balata camp (east of Nablus) at the beginning of this month. This boy is my companion and guide in the funeral processions for the martyrs in the camp.

Not far from Khuwaylid, the Palestinian journalist, Rima Al-Amleh, mentions that she was wounded several times with rubber bullets from the occupation and was subjected to suffocation dozens of times during her 20 years of coverage and field work on Palestine TV in various locations in the West Bank.

Rima Al-Amleh tells Al-Jazeera Net that she was exposed to dangerous situations during the confrontations with the occupation soldiers, and the most severe of them was when the news of the events or her injury reached her family and children, and she found that they had preceded her to the hospital to check on her.

She adds, "Every day, I bid farewell to my children before I go out to work, without making them feel anything or telling them which party I'm going to cover."

Rima Al-Amleh realizes that Palestinian society has come to know and live what journalists face, and "the world also knows all the crimes committed by the occupation and does not move a finger", however, she stresses the importance of hearings for male and female journalists, who describe their suffering as the greatest.

All data indicate an escalation in the targeting of journalists, and that there is "direct abuse" of them.

Rima Al-Amleh (a member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate) says that the attacks on them increased after the assassination of colleague Sherine Abu Aqleh last May.

Tears testimonials

And about her experience, the journalist Mays Al-Shafei - a correspondent for the Al-Jarmaq news site - talked about the psychological and health suffering she faced after covering the martyrdom and funeral of dozens of citizens in the city of Nablus, and her direct experience of the conditions of their relatives and mothers in particular, and she recounted crying her suffering with the "nightmares" that do not leave her, as she says.

The journalist, Shaza Hanaysha, was not in a better condition than her colleagues, as she is the only and closest witness to the assassination of Al-Jazeera correspondent Sherine Abu Aqelah in the Jenin camp, so that she hardly visited the site of the event after the assassination once or twice in an attempt to forget the incident that almost claimed her life as well.

After the assassination of Shireen, Shaza was attacked by Israeli media institutions and others, which worked to deny her story as a journalist and witness. Rather, they worked to "distort the story and target me on a personal and work level," says Hanaysha.

Since the role of the journalist does not stop at covering the confrontations with the occupation and goes beyond it to convey the suffering of the people, it is necessary - according to Shaza - that journalists support each other in the field and elsewhere to confront the Israeli "distortion" machine.

Journalist Mais Al-Shafei participated in covering the funeral of dozens of martyrs, which left difficult psychological effects that she talked about in her testimony (Al-Jazeera)

Hundreds of attacks

According to the data of the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), the occupation committed 66 violations against Palestinian journalists last October, while the number of attacks during the first half of this year exceeded hundreds, the most serious of which was the killing of the two journalists, Sherine Abu Aqelah, Ghfran and Rasneh.

Physical injury (80 assaults) constituted the largest percentage of Israeli violations, which came at a rate of 41%, followed by prevention of coverage with a rate of 63%, and arrest and detention with a rate of 6% of all assaults.

10 female journalists presented their testimonies during the hearing, which is part of a long project in which female journalists talk about their suffering in order to provide means of protection and safety in the field, and to alleviate their suffering through psychological care programmes, in addition to using their testimonies to expose the practices of the occupation and stop its impunity with the repetition of its crimes.

Wafaa Abdel Rahman talked about documenting the testimonies of female journalists to refer them to the International Criminal Court (Al-Jazeera)

Physical protection, psychological and occupational care

Wafa Abdel Rahman, director of the "Filastiniyat" Foundation, says that the aim of this project is to listen to female journalists and invest their testimonies "voice and image" in international forums through an integrated file prepared by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate for the International Criminal Court, during which these testimonies will be translated into English and French to be published globally and to expose the lies of the Israeli occupation. who works hard to overturn the truth.

"We want field work to become less dangerous for male and female journalists," Wafa Abdel-Rahman told Al-Jazeera Net. "We seek to listen to them and fulfill their demands for physical protection, in addition to psychological safety."

Since last year, a Palestinian institution has started implementing a psychological care program for male and female journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, especially after the repeated Israeli military aggression.

Wafaa Abdel-Rahman says that since 2013, the Israeli occupation violations have amounted to 8,000 attacks against journalists, 20% of which are against women journalists.

Through its project, Filastiniyat wants to achieve job security for female journalists. Wafaa Abdel-Rahman says that "more than 80% of female journalists working in the field work on a freelance basis, without contracts, without job security, and do not have health insurance or means to protect them in the field."