Amira Hass
 |
Amira Hass |
Amira Hass (born
1956) is an
Israeli
journalist and author, mostly known for her columns in the daily newspaper
Ha'aretz. She is especially famous for living in the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip and reporting on events from the Palestinian perspective of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The daughter of two
Holocaust survivors, Hass was born in
Jerusalem. She began her journalistic career in
1989 as a
staff editor for Ha'aretz and started to report from the
Palestinian Territories in
1991.
As of 2003, she is the only Jewish Israeli journalist who lives full-time among the Palestinians, in
Gaza from
1993 and in
Ramallah from
1997.
Hass was the recipient of the
Press Freedom Hero award from the
International Press Institute in
2000, the
Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Award in
2002, the
UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in
2003, and the inaugural award from the
Anna Lindh Memorial Fund in
2004.
Her reporting is often sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view and generally critical of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, but during the years of the
Al-Aqsa Intifada, Hass also published several very critical articles about the chaos and disorder caused by militias associated with the
Fatah party of
Yasser Arafat and the bloody war between Palestinian factions in
Nablus.
Due to her frequent reporting of events or voicing of opinions contrary to the official Israeli and Palestinian position, Hass has often been the target of verbal attack and has encountered opposition from both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
*
Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege (
Owl Books, 2000) ISBN 0805057404
* (with
Rachel Leah Jones)
Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land (
MIT Press, 2003) ISBN 1584350199
*
Interview by Robert Fisk (2001)
*
Interview by US National Public Radio (RealAudio, 2001).
*
Interview by Democracy Now (RealAudio, MP3, and transcript, 2005)
*
Search for recent Ha'Aretz articles by Amira Hass*
Ha'Aretz articles by Amira Hass listed by date. From Palestine: Information With Provenance*
Speech at University of Wisconsin-Madison: "Reporting the Middle East" (streaming .wma file) (Fall 2003)
*
Press Freedom Hero award*
Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Award*
World Press Freedom Prize*
Anna Lindh Award
