Palestinians boycott Athens media conference

Palestinian journalists in Palestine and in the Occupied Territories who were invited to attend a three-day media conference in Athens decided to boycott the event "because Palestinian journalists are an integral part of the Arab journalists all over the Arab world and their General Federation of Journalists who have decided to boycott any event that falls within the framework of normalization of ties with Israel."

The conference, organized by the Tel Aviv-based International Center for Peace in the Middle East, is funded by the European community and the government of Greece. Palestinian and Israeli journalists were invited to attend the conference, scheduled to start on April 2.

Na’im Toubasi, head of Palestinian Journalists Association, said that names of Palestinian journalists who would participate in the conference will be blacklisted and excommunicated by the association and by the General Federation of Arab Journalists which bans all sorts of normalization with Israel.

The Arab Journalists Union had condemned the Israeli attacks against journalists and Palestinians, describing these actions as "Israeli savagery."

The AJU demanded that international organizations concerned with freedom of opinion condemn these "criminal practices" as against human rights.

Nine journalists were injured during the coverage of last week's events in the Palestinian territories.