Annual Report - Palestinian Center for Human Rights

the backdrop of a dispute between them and the administration of “Horreya” radio
station, where they had worked before going to Al-Quds radio station.
On 31 May 2005, 3 masked gunmen stormed the offices of the Culture and Free
Thought Association in Khan Yunis, Al-Amal neighborhood. They detained the night
watchman in his room at gunpoint. They then destroyed the windows of the “Builders
of Tomorrow” and “Child Culture” centers, which are run by the association. They
set fire to the offices, which resulted in the administration office and the computer
laboratory being burnt down. Other areas of the building were also damaged. The
gunmen left the area and civil defense teams were called in to extinguish the fire.
On 14 August 2005, unidentified gunmen kidnapped a French journalist. PCHR’s
investigation indicates that the gunmen intercepted a civilian car carrying 4 journalists
near the Gaza International Hotel, in the west of Gaza City. They kidnapped the
French journalist Mohammad El-Wati, a soundman for the French Channel 2. He is
of Arab descent. He was held for 9 days without his location or the identity of the
kidnappers being known. He was released on 22 August 2005.
On 5 September 2005, Ramatan news agency cameraman, Zakareya Abu Harbeed,
was taking footage of the aftermath of a large explosion in a house in the Sheja’eya
neighborhood of Gaza City, when a group of civilians confronted him, telling him not
to take photographs and to leave the area. They pointed a powerful water hose from a
firefighter truck at him. His camera and the footage were ruined.
On 10 September 2005, the Italian journalist Lorenze Kremonzini, 30, from Koreri
Dela Siera newspaper, was kidnapped by gunmen in Deir El-Balah. PCHR’s
investigation indicates that 4 gunmen in a Mercedes car intercepted another Mercedes
carrying 4 people, including the journalist and his translator, near the Palestine
Technical College in Deir El-Balah. They forced the journalist out of the car and took
him to an unknown location in Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip.
It was later learned that the kidnappers were members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades,
the armed wing of Fatah. Shortly before the kidnapping, Kremonzini had conducted
an interview with them about members of their group storming the building of the
Governorate of the Central District and the offices of the Ministry of Interior in Deir
El-Balah. He was released at 21:30 on the evening of the same day.
On 18 September 2005, unknown gunmen kidnapped two journalists working for the
Associated Press. One was from South Africa and the other was Palestinian. They
were kidnapped from their residence, near the house of President Mahmoud Abbas in
Gaza City. The guards of the President’s house chased the kidnappers and surrounded
them in the Samer area in the center of Gaza City. The kidnappers threatened to kill
the journalists if the security forces came near. At the same time, members of the
Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, intervened and assisted the
security forces. The kidnappers fled the area, leaving behind the journalists and their
vehicle.
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