Terrorism of journalists in Gaza...

Gunmen ransack a newspaper in Gaza.

One wonders how the AP got this photograph.

A group of gunmen on Sunday went on a rampage inside the offices of the online newspaper Donia al-Watan in Gaza City, destroying furniture and equipment and threatening to kill the editor-in-chief, Abdallah Issa.

No one was hurt in the attack, the latest in a series of assaults on journalists and media organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Donia al-Watan is an independent newspaper that has been reporting extensively on corruption and lawlessness in the Palestinian Authority - issues that the PA-controlled media often tend to ignore.

Sources in the newspaper said the attackers were members of one of the Palestinian factions, but refused to elaborate. According to the sources, the gunmen were sent by the secretary-general of the faction to attack the offices and threaten the editor-in-chief following a critical report about him that appeared in the newspaper recently.

Palestinian journalists and political activists strongly condemned the attack as an attempt to silence the voices of the free media in PA-controlled areas.

"This is an assault on the freedom of expression," said a statement issued by the Palestinian National Initiative group. "This is also an attempt to silence the brave voices at a time when we are in need of the words of truth."

Aziz Matar, an engineer and columnist from Ramallah, described the assailants as "mercenaries." He added: "We must not allow our country to be dominated by a group of corrupt people and criminals. This attack won't force us to change our policy of unmasking all those who are corrupt and we will continue to oppose anarchy and lawlessness."

Imtiyaz al-Mughrabi, who writes regularly for Donia al-Watan, said the only way to deal with anarchy is by confiscating illegal weapons "that are being used against our children, women and elderly, as well as our writers."

I agree, the terrorists must be disarmed.