About Us

About General union of Palestinian journalists in the UK (GUPJ)
General union of Palestinian journalists in the UK (GUPJ) is a British Palestinian democratic non for profit union that committed to defending Palestinian Journalists’ professional, economic, social and human rights and supporting freedom of expression in the UK.(GUPJ) is a non-governmental professional organization with a pluralistic character and an independent legal personality. It represents the comprehensive and comprehensive trade union framework for all Palestinian journalists residing in the UK.
The eighth of June 1924 marked the start of the union work of Palestinian journalists, when the first Arab press conference was held, a conference announcing the first Palestinian Journalists Syndicate under the name of the Arab Press Syndicate in Palestine, with the aim of activating the press movement and directing it to serve the public interest.
In November 1927, the owners of the Palestinian newspapers held a conference in the city of Jaffa, and unanimously called on the press to “collect the word of the nation”, and facilitate the holding of a general conference representing the views of the nation in its general political issue, and the conferees considered that the government should demand the rights of the press, and they also discussed the formation of the structure of the Journalists Syndicate, and settled their opinion on the election of Issa Al-Bandak, (owner of the newspaper “Sawt Al-Shaab), and Abdullah Al-Qalqili, (owner of the newspaper “The Straight Path”) as representatives of the Syndicate, and entrusted them with submitting the law of the Syndicate to the government, and informing them Conference resolutions to it.
After 1929, press activity moved from Jerusalem to Jaffa, and the press developed in it, until it occupied an important position in the field of Arab journalism; the press during the British Mandate era witnessed a remarkable development at the level of directing and editing, so it became full of intellectuals and intellectuals, and intellectual heads led public opinion, on the other hand, newspapers were closed, journalists were prosecuted, and the syndicate’s headquarters was closed several times.
On 27 May 1936, the Third General Press Conference was held, discussing the prevailing situation, including the responsibility of the British government for the deterioration of conditions due to Zionist immigration and the danger of the campaign of publications laws. The Peel Commission considered that the harsh language used by the press was one of the factors in the explosion of the 1936 revolution, and the union was dissolved by the British Mandate and its headquarters were closed for several months, prosecuting its members and tightening measures on journalists.
(GUPJ) is continuation to the Palestinian journalistic work which started in 1924 and developed to meet up with the current challenges which the Palestinian cause is going through.