[wordup] First-person account: Israeli army shutters Palestinian TV station

[Adam Shand]

Via: politech at politechbot.com

From: "Xeni Jardin" <xeni at xeni.net>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan at well.com>
Cc: <dkuttab at ammannet.net>
Subject: Kuttab op/ed on media in Ramallah (was: re: pornocasts aimed at Palestinian TV)
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 08:21:41 -0700

Declan,

In light of last week's politech item on <...pornocasts aimed at
Palestinian TV...>, I thought you and politech listmemembers might
appreciate this op/ed from the pov of a Palestinian independent media
organizer. I'm forwarding it with permission from Mr. Kuttab, who is a
journalist from Jerusalem. He is director of the Institute of Modern Media
at Al Quds University, which operates Al Quds Educational Television (the
subject of this story).

All best wishes,
-----------
Xeni Jardin
freelance journalist + conference manager
xeni at xeni.net | www.xeni.net | YIM: xeni_jardin

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The following appeared in the NY Times

April 6, 2002
Forced Off the Air in Ramallah
By DAOUD KUTTAB
AMMAN, Jordan

I still remember the day early in March 1997 when I was handed a piece
of paper issued by the Palestinian Authority allowing us at Al Quds
University's Institute of Modern Media to establish a local television
station in Ramallah. With lots of energy and almost no resources we
began the process of setting up Al Quds Educational Television. We
wanted to build an independent TV station that was neither a government
mouthpiece nor a commercial station that would live by game shows and
shampoo.

It wasn't easy, but we were largely successful until this week.

Five years after launching our first broadcast - using a 40-watt
transmitter to televise a goldfish in a glass bowl swimming to the
sounds of Beethoven - our dreams have been shattered. Our station, which
has grown in size, viewership and programming, has been closed, our
equipment has been destroyed and Israeli soldiers are using our offices
and studios. No order was issued for this closure. We didn't violate any
law. The destruction was simply an act of unprovoked aggression.

>From early on the going was tough, but our existence until this week was
never in doubt. Our mission to stay independent received only limited
help. Many major international donors wanted to help the state-run
television as a means to boost the Palestinian Authority. But with
assistance from Palestinian foundations like the Welfare Association and
international organizations like the Open Society Foundation and the
Ford Foundation, we were able to create an alternative Palestinian
television station that produced public service programming like that on
PBS and C-Span.

Senior leaders in the Palestinian Authority were not happy with us. When
we started broadcasting live sessions of the elected  Palestinian
legislative council, the official Palestinian Authority TV station
started jamming us. When we aired a session that dealt with corruption
in the Palestinian Authority I was arrested and held in a Palestinian
jail for seven days. My release, as a result of local and international
pressure, helped secure our station's continuity.

Since then, and despite some programming critical of the Palestinian
Authority, we have been left alone. We have dealt on the air with
subjects ranging from the physical and sexual abuse of children to the
problems of early marriage among young Palestinian women to the lack of
respect for people with disabilities. We have tackled issues like the
environment, public health and family planning. As part of the vision of
the president of Al Quds University, Sari Nuseibeh, we embarked in 1997 
on a groundbreaking partnership with Israeli educational television to
produce a Palestinian-Israeli version of "Sesame Street." The program
was produced with the aim of teaching both Israel and Palestinian
children mutual respect and tolerance.

Freedom of expression and presenting diverse opinions on social,
economic and political issues were our aims. We felt firmly that we were
laying the blocks for a cohesive, progressive society that would be the
foundation of an independent state.

None of this was easy in the face of the Israeli occupation. Yet we
refused to give in to despair. When the latest Israeli incursion
occurred we tried our best to keep doing our work despite the next to
impossible mission of running an educational television station in such
times. Tanks were rolling around our city, our staff were under curfew
and we were cut off from  each other except for telephone contact. The
fact that our station was on the edge of town spared us in the early
days of the incursion. We kept running our station with a mix of public
service messages (for example, showing phone numbers for medical
services) plus programs like a series we produced with Unicef to help
parents and children deal with the trauma of violence. 

Then on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers came to the four-story Medical
Professions College building, where our studios are located, and began
destroying what we have worked to build. Every office in this
educational facility was broken into, equipment was destroyed. Our two
remaining staff members manning the broadcast were arrested and held for
four hours before being released.

While being held, they saw television cameras and invaluable video
archives thrown from the fourth floor, where our equipment and studio
are located.

I am fortunate that my family and our staff have not been physically
hurt. When our fates are compared to those of others, we must be
grateful. But what happened was not just property damage, but an attempt
to destroy our dream of building a useful educational TV station and
helping build a viable state with healthy civic institutions.

It will not be easy to pick up the pieces after experiencing such
brutality. I have no doubt that we will rebuild our television station
and reclaim the hope that we had five years ago. At the same time I am
confident that our people, with the support of the international
community, will rise from the pain and build the foundation of a society
that can live in peace with its neighbors.

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