On Monday, Al-Quds published an IDF announcement regarding construction plans in Kochav Ya’acov, a settlement near Ramallah.
By ADAM RASGONA Palestinian man from Al-Khalil reads ‘Al-Quds’ newspaper.(photo credit: REUTERS)
A Fatah spokesman expressed support for Palestinian Journalists Syndicate Chairman Nasser Abu Bakr on Thursday, in his dispute with Al-Quds over the publication of an IDF announcement pertaining to settlements in the Palestinian daily.“Al-Quds’s attack on Journalist Union Chairman Nasser Abu Bakr for calling on newspapers not to publish settlement announcements is an attempt to bring [people] to their knees and break them,” Munir Jaghoub, the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commissariat spokesman, wrote on his Facebook page.Jaghoub’s comments followed heated exchanges over the past few days between Abu Bakr, who is a reporter for Agence France-Presse, and Al-Quds, the second such exchange in the past six months.On Monday, Al-Quds published an IDF announcement regarding construction plans in Kochav Ya’acov, a settlement near Ramallah.The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate slammed Al-Quds the same day in a press release, threatening to call on official parties to prevent the distribution of the Palestinian daily.“It is unacceptable that Al-Quds would contribute to the promotion of Israeli settlement plans in violation of international law and UN resolutions,” the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said on Monday.“The Journalists Syndicate calls on Al-Quds to apologize to the Palestinian people [and] stop publishing these announcements..., and warns that in the case the newspaper does not respond positively to this request, the syndicate will ask official parties to stop its distribution in the territories of the State of Palestine and call on citizens to boycott it.”Al-Quds’s editors wasted no time in responding to the Journalists Syndicate, slamming its chairman in a special note titled, “A clarification from Al-Quds in response to Abu Bakr’s attack,” in its edition on Tuesday.“Abu Bakr attacked the paper without undertaking the burden of inquiry about the Civil Administration (IDF branch) announcement,” the note stated.“It appears that Abu Bakr does not know or is ignoring that Al-Quds is a national newspaper published in occupied Jerusalem since 1967 and is committed to [Israeli] licensing laws, including that which pertains to publishing government announcements.”