Reuters photographer Salem (R), after he was released from jail by Israel following six days of detention

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, June 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Israeli occupation army court has rejected appeals to release two Palestinian journalists, employed by AFP and by Reuters, who have been held without trial for more than two months, their lawyer said Thursday, June 20.

Mohammad Burghal said the court, meeting on Tuesday at the Beit El army base near the West Bank city of Ramallah , gave no reason for its decision.

The two journalists are Hossam Abu Alan, 47, a resident of the West Bank town of Hebron who has worked as an AFP photographer for six years, and 23-year-old Yusri Al-Jamal, a Reuters cameraman.

Abu Alan and Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana were arrested on April 24 at the Beit Einun checkpoint northeast of Hebron on their way to cover the funerals of two Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in nearby Bani Naim.

Dana was released a few hours later, but Abu Alan kept in custody.

Jamal was also arrested near Hebron , on April 30.

After repeated protests from AFP, the army said in a May 3 letter that it suspected Abu Alan of “assisting the terrorist Tanzim organization,” Israel ’s term for armed groups linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah.

The occupation army claimed that Jamal was “directly linked with hostile terrorist activities that have nothing to do with his position as a journalist.”

But in neither case have the authorities provided any evidence to back their allegations, nor formally charged either man.

The two men were placed in administrative detention until July 23 and August 6, respectively. They are being held at the military detention camp of Ofer, near Ramallah.

Administrative detention is a holdover from the British rule in Palestine and allows the government to hold people for months without charges if they are deemed to be a threat to national security.

An unknown number of Palestinians, believed to be in the thousands, have been placed in administrative detention since Israel launched its massive invasion of the West Bank on March 29.

On its website, the Committee to Protect Journalists placed the West Bank at the top of its list of the most dangerous places for a journalist to be.

The Israeli army “used threats, intimidation, and, in some cases, potentially lethal force to prevent journalists from covering its military operations,” CPJ reported.

In one notorious incident, Israeli troops “fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at reporters waiting outside the Ramallah compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.”

CPJ stated that Israeli soldiers have also “fired live rounds at working reporters, detained several journalists, confiscated film or press cards from others, ransacked the offices of private West Bank television and radio stations, and repeatedly attacked the Palestinian National Authority’s broadcasting facilities in violation of international humanitarian law.”

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