JERUSALEM: “The eyes of truth will never be blinded,” protesters’ placards read, as Palestinian journalists wore eye patches Sunday to decry the wounding of a colleague in the occupied West Bank.
Muath Amarneh has been in an Israeli hospital since he was hit in the eye Friday during clashes between Israeli border police and Palestinian demonstrators in the village of Surif, close to Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Dozens of Palestinian journalists rallied Sunday — protesting with one eye covered in solidarity.
Amarneh, who is being treated in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, said he was some way from the protesters when he was hit by what he believes was Israeli fire.
“After the clashes started, I was standing to the side wearing a flak jacket with press markings and a helmet,” the freelance cameraman told AFP on Sunday.
“Suddenly I felt something hit my eye, I thought it was a rubber bullet or a stone. I put my hand to my eye and found nothing.”
“I couldn’t see and my eye was completely gone.”
He said doctors at the hospital told him a fragment of metal, about 2 centimeters long, pierced the eye and settled behind it near the brain.
Amarneh’s cousin Tareq, accompanying him in hospital, said doctors planned to extract the metal but changed their minds after discovering they could also damage the right eye or even trigger bleeding in the brain.
A spokesman for the Israeli police denied that the photographer was targeted, saying fire was “not directed at all” toward him.
“The security forces operated in the area in front of dozens of rioters, some of them masked, who threw stones at officers and burned tires,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
“The response by the forces was using non-lethal means in order to disperse the rioters.”
Amarneh, who comes from the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, claimed he was targeted as a journalist.
“There is an unnatural and ugly targeting of journalists,” the father-of-two said.
Since the incident Palestinian journalists have launched a campaign, with protests in several cities in the West Bank.
In Bethlehem Sunday, border police dispersed a sit-in by journalists at the checkpoint north of the city, an AFP journalist said.
Demonstrators wore eye patches and held signs aloft.
Tear gas cannisters were fired by the border police, the journalist said.
Seven people were lightly wounded, according to Palestinian health officials.
In the city of Tulkarem, about 250 journalists took part in a sit-in to show solidarity, according to journalists present.
A video and photos of Amarneh spread immediately after his injury, with journalists trying to carry him with blood flowing from his left eye.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says 60 journalists have been hit by live ammunition this year, the majority in Gaza — an enclave where violent weekly protests along the border often lead to dozens of demonstrators being wounded.
Palestinian journalists protest wounding of colleague
Palestinian journalists protest wounding of colleague
- Muath Amarneh has been in an Israeli hospital since he was hit in the eye Friday during clashes
- Dozens of Palestinian journalists rallied Sunday with one eye covered in solidarity
A look back at how Arab News marked its 50th anniversary
- In a year crowded with news, the paper still managed to innovate and leverage AI to become available in 50 languages
- Golden Jubilee Gala, held at the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh, now available to watch on YouTube
RIYADH: In 2025, the global news agenda was crowded with headlines concerning wars, elections and rapid technological change.
Inside the newsroom of Arab News, the year carried additional weight: Saudi Arabia’s first English-language daily marked its 50th anniversary.
And with an industry going through turmoil worldwide, the challenge inside the newsroom was how to turn a midlife crisis into a midlife opportunity.
For the newspaper’s team members, the milestone was less about nostalgia than about ensuring the publication could thrive in a rapidly changing and evolving media landscape.
“We did not want just to celebrate our past,” said Faisal J. Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News. “But more importantly, we were constantly thinking of how we can keep Arab News relevant for the next five decades.”
The solution, he added, came down to two words: “Artificial intelligence.”
For the Arab News newsroom, AI was not a replacement for journalism but as a tool to extend it.
“It was like having three eyes at once: one on the past, one on the present, and one on the future,” said Noor Nugali, the newspaper’s deputy editor-in-chief.
One of the first initiatives was the 50th anniversary commemorative edition, designed as a compact historical record of the region told through Arab News’ own reporting.
“It was meant to be like a mini history book, telling the history of the region using Arab News’ archive with a story from each year,” said Siraj Wahab, acting executive editor of the newspaper.
The issue, he added, traced events ranging from the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in 1975 to the swearing-in of Donald Trump, while also paying homage to former editors-in-chief who shaped the newspaper’s direction over five decades.
The anniversary edition, however, was only one part of a broader strategy to signal Arab News’ focus on the future.
To that end, the paper partnered with Google to launch the region’s first AI-produced podcast using NotebookLM, an experimental tool that synthesizes reporting and archival material into audio storytelling.
The project marked a regional first in newsroom-led AI audio production.
The podcast was unveiled during a special 50th anniversary ceremony in mid-November, held on the sidelines of the Arab Media Forum, hosted by the Dubai Future Foundation. The event in the UAE’s commercial hub drew regional media leaders and officials.
Remarks at the event highlighted the project as an example of innovation in legacy media, positioning Arab News as a case study in digital reinvention rather than preservation alone.
“This is a great initiative, and I’m happy that it came from Arab News as a leading media platform, and I hope to see more such initiatives in the Arab world especially,” said Mona Al-Marri, director-general of the Government of Dubai Media Office, on the sidelines of the event.
“AI is the future, and no one should deny this. It will take over so many sectors. We have to be ready for it and be part of it and be ahead of anyone else in this interesting field.”
Behind the scenes, another long-form project was taking shape: a documentary chronicling Arab News’ origins and its transformation into a global, digital-first newsroom.
“While all this was happening, we were also working in-house on a documentary telling the origin story of Arab News and how it transformed under the current editor into a more global, more digital operation,” said Nugali.
The result was “Rewriting Arab News,” a documentary examining the paper’s digital transformation and its navigation of Saudi Arabia’s reforms between 2016 and 2018. The film charted editorial shifts, newsroom restructuring and the challenges of reporting during a period of rapid national change.
The documentary was screened at the Frontline Club in London, the European Union Embassy, Westminster University, and the World Media Congress in Bahrain. It later became available on the streaming platform Shahid and onboard Saudi Arabian Airlines.
It was also nominated for an Association for International Broadcasting award.
In early July, a special screening of the documentary took place at the EU Embassy in Riyadh. During the event, EU Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Christophe Farnaud described the film as an “embodiment” of the “incredible changes” that the Kingdom is undergoing.
“I particularly appreciate … the historical dimension, when (Arab News) was created in 1975 — that was also a project corresponding to the new role of the Kingdom,” Farnaud said. “Now the Kingdom has entered a new phase, a spectacular phase of transformation.”
Part of the documentary is narrated by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, who in the film delves into the paper’s origins.
The grand slam of the anniversary year was the Golden Jubilee of Arab News gala, held in late September in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter.
Hosted by the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Saudi Arabia and Ambassador of Djibouti to Riyadh Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama, the evening featured a keynote address by Prince Turki, who spoke about Arab News’ founding under his father, the late King Faisal, and its original mission to present the Kingdom to the English-speaking world.
Arab News was established in Jeddah in 1975 by brothers Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz under the slogan to give Arabs a voice in English while documenting the major transformations taking place across the Middle East.
The two founders were honored with a special trophy presented by Prince Turki, Assistant Media Minister Abdullah Maghlouth, Editor-in-Chief Abbas, and family member and renowned columnist Talat Hafiz on behalf of the founders.
During the gala, Abbas announced Arab News’ most ambitious expansion yet: the launch of the publication in 50 languages, unveiled later at the World Media Congress in Madrid in cooperation with Camb.AI.
The Madrid launch in October underscored Arab News’ aim to reposition itself not simply as a regional paper, but as a global platform for Saudi and Middle Eastern perspectives.
The event was attended by Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin, the Saudi ambassador to Spain; Arab and Spanish diplomats; and senior editors and executives.
As the anniversary year concluded, Arab News released the full video of the Golden Jubilee Gala to the public for the first time, making the event accessible beyond the room in which it was held.
For a newspaper founded in an era of typewriters and wire copy, the message of its 50th year was clear: longevity alone is not enough. Relevance, the newsroom concluded, now depends on how well journalism adapts without losing sight of its past.
