Resolution of the General Assembly of PEN Berlin on 8 December 2024
For the protection of writers and journalists in the current Middle East conflict
Every society needs its writers, translators, reporters and intellectuals. Culture, science and journalism reflect society, form its intellectual backbone and self-image, preserve its memories and provide impetus for new ideas.
We are therefore deeply concerned about how many writers, journalists and intellectuals have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza, how many cultural institutions, educational centres and universities have been destroyed and what consequences this will have for Palestinian society. We also condemn the murder of Israeli journalists in the Hamas terror attack of 7 October 2023.
This war would not have started if Hamas had not attacked Israel on 7 October and carried out a terrorist massacre. And the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip would undoubtedly be lower if Hamas had not operated from densely populated areas without regard for the Palestinian population. But this does not mean that Israel’s conduct of the war can be exempt from criticism.
Terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah do not respect the freedom of the press, opinion and art, but fight against it. We cannot accept this. We expect Israel to uphold the principles of press freedom even during war and to protect the lives of independent reporters and all innocent people.
According to various international organisations, at least 140 journalists have died in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon since the beginning of October 2024, with at least 34 of them dying in the line of duty. Two to four Israeli media professionals were killed in the course of the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. The others, almost all Palestinians, were killed by the Israeli army.
These figures come from organisations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Inter-national Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Their figures differ only slightly from one another. And in some cases, they accuse the Israeli armed forces of deliberately killing reporters – as in the case of Reuters correspondent Issam Abdallah, who was killed in Lebanon.
Many of those who write prose or poetry have also fallen victim to the war in the Gaza Strip. Among the dead are our colleagues Heba Abu Nada, Omar Abu Shawish, Refaat Alareer, Abdul Karim Hashash, Inas al-Saqa, Jihad Al-Masri, Yousef Dawas, Shahadah Al-Buhbahan, Nour al-Din Hajjaj, Mustafa Al-Sawwaf, Abdullah Al-Aqad, Said Al-Dahshan, Mohammad Abdulrahim Saleh und Saleem Al-Naffar.
Numerous publishing houses, bookshops, public libraries, cultural centres and all the univer-sities in Gaza were destroyed, as were the archives in Gaza, which preserved material from 150 years of life in the city and the region.
The Israeli journalists Shai Regev and Ayelet Arnin were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October 2023.
Without journalism, art and science, without support from culture and memory, people cannot live free and self-determined lives. We are therefore deeply concerned about the future of the people in the region.
We call on the German government to do everything in its power to bring about a ceasefire.
We mourn for all the innocent victims of this conflict.