This reports looks into media legislation and the multiple challenges affecting the media and key obstacles to media reform in Palestine.
Palestine has fewer provisions for media legislation than any other country in the Southern Mediterranean region. Any review of media law in Palestine should take two main points into account.
First, the occupation by and conflict with Israel, which represents, among other issues, a threat to press freedom and the free movement of Palestinian journalists. The occupation also poses a threat to media development, as Israel controls the Palestinian spectrum and restricts the bringing in of equipment to the different Palestinian territories.
Second, the division in Palestine since 2007 is of crucial importance, with Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and Fatah of the West Bank. This situation has led to the suspension of the Palestinian Authority Legislative Council (PLC) and consequently, no media law has existed since 2007.