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PSC update: why is the BBC ignoring Israel’s killing of Palestinian children?

In Latest news, Uncategorized

 

Take action: Why is the BBC ignoring Israel’s killing of Palestinian children?

 

On March 19th, 14-year-old Yousef al-Shawamrah (pictured) was shot in the back and hip by Israeli soldiers as he gathered thistles near his West Bank village. 

The child was left to bleed to death. His two friends, aged 12 and 17, who were with him were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to a nearby Israeli settlement by soldiers, where they were beaten for not answering questions posed in Hebrew, a language neither understands.

 

To date, this shocking incident has not been covered by the BBC. In contrast, in the week prior to Yousef’s killing, BBC Online reported extensively on rockets fired out of Gaza, which resulted in no fatalities.

 

PSC wrote to BBC Online to ask why it had not even mentioned Israel’s killing of a Palestinian child, let alone report on it fully. We were told: ‘There is no mandate to report every killing.’

 

Yet we have no knowledge of the BBC ignoring the killing of any Israeli child by Palestinians. Once more, the BBC appears to be taking the position that the life of a Palestinian is worth less than that of an Israeli.

 

Take action: Please write to BBC Online to ask why it has not covered Yousef’s killing.

Email:[email protected]

 

Full details of Yousef’s killing and the kidnapping of his friends are in this DCI-Palestine report:http://tinyurl.com/qgfl482

BBC’s lack of impartiality over status of Jerusalem referred to Information Commissioner

 

The BBC continually refers to Jerusalem, in its entirety, as an Israeli city. When challenged on this by PSC, the BBC Trust replied that it was fine for BBC journalists to do so because ‘Israel [has] de facto control over the entire city in a political, administrative and military sense’. 

To find out why the BBC is choosing to accept Israel’s illegal facts on the ground over international law, PSC and Friends of Al Aqsa (FoA) submitted a Freedom of Information request to the BBC asking for all relevant documents relating to the Trust’s decision to be released.

 

The request was rejected so, this week, PSC and FoA have referred the BBC to the Information Commissioner (IC), and asked the IC’s office to investigate the BBC over this matter. Full details: http://tinyurl.com/nkb6noh

 

 

Student solidarity with Palestine

 

  PSC’s student work this semester has just come to an end. Between January and the end of March, we organised weekly Skype conversations between students in Gaza and students from London universities (pictured). 

These conversations allowed London students to hear personal experiences of life under siege, to share on their campuses, and demonstrated support and solidarity to Gaza students.

 

Students on both sides have written about the talks on the Chat2Gaza blog: www.chat2gaza.com

 

Read the latest blog post: We look to the sky for the stars, and we just see warplanes 

 

On April 1st, PSC and Birzeit University’s Right to Education team hosted Education under Occupation – stories from West Bank and Gaza students.

 

A packed audience at the P21 Gallery, London, heard first-hand from Gaza and West Bank students about their experiences of Israeli restrictions on their education and how they face the challenges.

 

Pictures from Education under Occupation: http://tinyurl.com/ljdqm7g

 

 

Palestinians call for application of international law, whilst Israel continues violations

 

On 1 April, Mahmoud Abbas signed letters of accession to 15 UN treaties and conventions, following Israel’s refusal to fulfil its commitment to release the final set of Palestinian prisoners. 

The PLO pointed out that the ‘release of pre-Oslo prisoners is a commitment Israel had already made 20 years ago as part of the Palestinian Israeli interim accords (Oslo accords), again in 1999 through the Sharm al-Sheikh Agreement and a third time at the beginning of this negotiations process’.

 

It added that ‘the Israeli government needs to understand that negotiations are a non-violent tool to achieve peace rather than a smoke screen behind which it can continue its violations of human rights, further its settlement enterprise, and make the two-state solution increasingly impossible.’

 

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/politics/7265-q-a-palestine-s-accession-to-international-treaties Read the full story