In 2014, the state of media and cultural freedom in the West Bank and Gaza improved significantly. The reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah led to a strong decline in the number of violations against journalists in both regions; arrests were reduced by half in comparison with last year. However, the Israeli attacks have drastically increased, particularly during the 51-day war on Gaza, when Israel committed a massacre against Palestinian journalists and media professionals.
Israel’s impunity on the world stage allowed its soldiers to resort to all forms of repression against journalists in the West Bank and the 1948 Territories, to prevent them from covering protests and clashes with young Palestinians. Arrests flared up, including journalists working for Hamas-affiliated satellite channel Al-Aqsa. Violations also continued against Palestinians on a cultural level, in an Israeli attempt to curb the free expression of their Arab identity.
The reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas healed divisions within the Palestinian media. Both the deposed Hamas government in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank allowed the redistribution of newspapers linked to the rival group in the two regions after a seven-year ban. However, this agreement did not stop journalists from being summoned, questioned and arrested.