Angered by Online Censorship, Palestinians Say #NoToBlocking · Global Voices
One of the campaign's posters “#NoToBlocking”. Source: Twitter.
Angered by the Palestinian Authority's (PA) latest blocking of news websites belonging to rival political groups, Palestinian activists and journalists launched Monday evening a social media campaign to protest against the PA's censorship and crackdown on free speech, and what they deem as increasingly authoritarian policies.
The campaign called on the public to use the Arabic hashtag (#لا_للحجب), which translates to ‘no to blocking’, and demanded the PA's Attorney General to issue a public statement stating the reasons behind his decision.
The Palestinian factions and people say NO to silencing their voices by blocking news websites!#لا_للحجب
— لا للحجب (@RejectBlocking) June 19, 2017
دعوة للتغريد
على الهاشتاق #لا_للحجب
اليوم الاثنين الساعة ال10:30 مساءا
وذلك رفضا لسياسة تكميم الافواه .. pic.twitter.com/mzLbUUqUH8
— Palestine | فلسطين✌ (@raed_selmi) June 19, 2017
An invitation to tweet: To reject the silencing of voices, to prevent the suppression of freedoms, and to protest the decision to block websites, join us on Monday at 10:30pm using the hashtag #NoToBlocking
On 12 June, the Palestinian Attorney General ordered Palestinian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the West Bank to block a number of websites that are not in line with the PA's political orientation. Initially, 11 websites affiliated with ex-Fatah leader <PERSON> and Fatah's political rival, Hamas were blocked. 467
An official at the Attorney General's office said the sites were blocked for violating “rules of publication.”
It remains unclear precisely which “rules” they were referring to, but the 1995 Press and Publication Law includes several vague and broad restrictions on freedom of expression.
On June 20, local observers reported that the number of blocked websites rose to 22. According to Palestinian news site Arab48, the Attorney General originally submitted a list of 40 websites and pages for these companies to block, including Facebook pages of multiple Palestinian social media influencers. This has not been confirmed or denied by the PA or local ISPs. As of June 21, no Facebook pages on the list had been blocked.
Activists were particularly angered by the lack of transparency on the reasons behind this blocking decision.
⁦#Palestinian⁩ Public Prosecution ⁦#blocked⁩ news sites, for no reason!
⁧#حجب_مواقع⁩ ⁦#Palestine⁩ ⁦#freedomofpress⁩ ⁧#لا_للحجب⁩ ⁦# pic.twitter.com/aiEbDyj5WD
— لا للحجب (@RejectBlocking) June 19, 2017
Journalist and blogger <PERSON> tweeted:
السلطة الفلسطينية تحجب أكثر من 22 موقعاً بدون معرفة الأسباب والقائمة تتوسع، تقمع الإعلام وتمارس ديكاتوريتها بحقه وحق جمهوره#لا_للحجب
— <PERSON> (@MarahWadia) June 19, 2017
The PA blocks more than 22 websites without explanation and the list is growing, [PA] suppresses media and exercises dictatorship against it and its public #NoToBlocking
Other netizens remain skeptical as to the effectiveness of such blocking measures in this “social media age”. 467