Nina Arif speaks to Palestinian journalist Diya Housheya after he and his colleagues were attacked by Israeli soldiers while reporting on clashes in the West Bank.
There’s been a surge in recent attacks by Israeli forces against Palestinians. The last month alone has claimed around 80 Palestinian lives, and thanks to camera phones, some of the violence has been captured on video.
While mainstream international media largely turns a blind eye to the dramatic footage, the Palestinian press continues to cover what some are calling “a Third Intifada.” Often, this has resulted in journalists becoming part of the story they are trying to tell.
Diya Housheya works for Ghad Al Aarabi Tv. Recently he was reporting on clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers near the illegal settlement Beit El, north of Ramallah – the same incident in which a Palestinian youth was run over by an Israeli military jeep.
As they filmed, Diya and his colleagues suddenly found themselves being pushed, kicked and pepper-sprayed in the face by Israeli soldiers.
“We were standing more than 150 meters away from the soldiers. They came to us with no warning and just attacked. They sprayed my face from zero distance with a new kind of gas pepper spray. It contains something that makes your whole body vibrate and you can’t even stand up properly.”
Diya says there were no words exchanged, but recalls a comment made by an Israeli solider,
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“He just said to Munther Khateeb, my cameraman, ‘I want to make your life hell’. I felt angry because we didn’t do anything. We were just covering the news.”
This wasn’t the first time Diya found himself and his colleagues on the receiving end of aggression by Israeli forces, while being clearly identifiable as media.
“A few weeks ago, they shot my journalist friend Salah Zayyad near Qalandia checkpoint as he was filming a demonstration. He was shot in the stomach and the bullet ruptured his gut.”
I asked Diya why he was continuing to work as a journalist given the rising number of attacks on media personnel which also result in fatalities.
“I won’t leave my job because I love it, and I need to tell the truth about what’s happening here, without taking any sides.”
Diya is under no illusion about the volatility of his situation: “Every day when I leave my home, I kiss my son and my daughter because maybe I will not return.”
Although Diya says he’s lost count of the number of times he was attacked while doing his job, he affirms that this latest incident was the worst so far.
Israel has lost 11 of its citizens (including 2 soldiers and 6 illegal settlers), compared to the 80 Palestinian deaths. Israel blames the Palestinians, while rights groups say Israeli troops have used excessive force, in some cases killing suspected attackers rather than arresting them.
