Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The extraordinary conference of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate was held today, Sunday, at the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza and Al-Bireh. The independent commission has legal violations for its convening.

Minister Ahmed Assaf, General Supervisor of Official Media, stressed in his speech during the conference, "President Mahmoud Abbas expresses his special interest in journalists and media professionals, his interest in the national media and his continuous desire to continuously develop it, specifically at the level of human cadres, an interest that stems from the president's deep awareness of the importance of The role of journalists.

Assaf emphasized that President Abbas views journalists as soldiers of the homeland to preserve the Palestinian national narrative in the face of the Zionist narrative, "Whoever conveys the truth publishes the narrative."

Assaf said: President Abbas's message to male and female journalists is to preserve and adhere to freedom of opinion and expression, calling on the Journalists Syndicate to propose laws and legislation that protect their freedom of thought, profession and interests, adding that the President calls on journalists to play their responsible investigative oversight role at home, in combating corruption, and all Phenomena and manifestations that hinder our renaissance and the development of our society.

Assaf called on the international community, the International Federation of Journalists and all human rights organizations to establish a practical mechanism to protect the Palestinian journalist in the field, prevent him from being easily abused and prevent him from carrying out his media mission, exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation and holding him accountable for all these crimes.

And after the head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Nasser Abu Bakr, announced the completion of the quorum for the conference of "Palestinian Journalism Martyrs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," he stressed in his speech, "This conference is a decisive and historic conference because of the wide presence it represents at the level of the Palestinian press body."

Abu Bakr said, "We are committed to what we say, and the framework of the internal system for building the Journalists Syndicate has been launched, and all frameworks in the Syndicate and its committees will be subject to the democratic process, so that we have a syndicate that protects and guards rights and guardians of the narrative." Abu Bakr called on the government to adopt a risk premium for journalists.

In a speech, Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, said, "This conference is considered a form of democracy for this struggling union, which has done a lot to defend the rights of our people, the rights of journalists, and the emphasis on preserving public freedoms."

Abu Youssef stressed that "the Journalists Syndicate is one of the main components of the popular organizations affiliated with the PLO, the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."

Abu Youssef pointed out that the journalists are working to report the crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, despite their targeting, while they are fighting the battle of freedom and independence, by conveying the Palestinian narrative and refuting the Zionist narrative.

The agenda of the conference is based on making the necessary amendments to the internal regulations of the union, in a way that paves the way for holding the general conference and holding elections in the coming weeks, and on the date decided by the extraordinary conference, while those with the right to participate in the conference reached 2412 members, of whom 1693 are in the West Bank, and 719 are in Gaza, where The quorum for the conference is 1207 members.

conference boycott

The convening of the Syndicate's extraordinary conference comes amidst a number of press blocs boycotting the conference, amid accusations of the conference deviating from its objectives, and the existence of legal abuses.

In a statement, the Palestinian Media Gathering affirmed its boycott of the conference because it deviated from its goals and the existence of many legal violations that the Independent Commission for Human Rights recognized a few days ago, and the absence of applicable trade union principles and customs, while the gathering called for the necessity of holding urgent elections for the Journalists Syndicate.

In turn, the Palestinian Journalist Bloc decided not to participate in what it called the "extraordinary conference play", due to the lack of proper legal foundations, and not to deal with the initiative and movement of journalists who demanded a reform of the internal system to ensure that any upcoming elections are democratic and transparent, and because the General Secretariat refused to publish a record Union members, while calling on journalists to boycott the conference.

In a statement, the Independent Journalist Bloc called for a boycott of the conference, stressing that the conference comes to prolong the situation the union suffers from, and that it would have been better to make efforts to hold the normal, not the extraordinary, general conference.

As for the movement of Palestinian journalists, he confirmed in a statement that he decided to boycott the conference, calling on journalists not to participate, and holding the regulatory authorities responsible for passing this system with its seriousness and the proposed form.

In a statement addressed to several human rights organizations, the movement demanded the cancellation of the extraordinary conference due to the lack of entitlement to hold the regular general conference, the lack of commitment to publish and make available the register of union members, the manipulation of the union's internal system and the misleading of union members.

Al-Hirak indicated that if this speech was ignored and proceeded with holding the extraordinary conference on the announced date without correcting these serious legal abuses, it called on the oversight and human rights bodies not to give legal cover to this illegal conference, and not to be partners in infringing the legal rights of journalists and passing Amendments to the union's bylaws in an illegal manner.

The Independent Commission for Human Rights "Board of Grievances" indicated in a statement that it found that the copy of the internal system published on the website of the Journalists Syndicate is not the version on the basis of which the amendments to the internal system will be discussed in the extraordinary conference, as the copy that was received by the Commission and conducted The 2012 elections, on its basis, did not obtain the approval of the General Conference of the Syndicate as required by the legal procedures, while the Commission called on the Journalists Syndicate to publish the names of the members of the General Conference before the date of the extraordinary conference and to allow sufficient and appropriate time for all members to view the memberships and take any legal measures they deem appropriate. According to the regulations.

The commission emphasized that sufficient guarantees must be provided for members of the union in cases where decisions are taken to terminate their membership. The commission also stressed the need to raise the representation of women in electoral lists to no less than 30%, and that at least one woman be on the list among the first three names. , and at least one woman out of every three names followed.

The commission expressed its hope that the general conference would be held and that the elections would be held as soon as possible, in a manner that respects the deadlines stipulated in the internal regulations of the Journalists Syndicate.