Al Jazeera has deplored the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to close its office in the occupied West Bank, calling it a move that is “in line with the [Israeli] occupation’s actions against its staff”.
“Al Jazeera Media Network denounces the Palestinian Authority’s decision to freeze its work and coverage in the West Bank. It considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories,” the Qatar-based network said in a statement on Thursday.
“And – unfortunately – such a decision comes in line with the previous action taken by the Israeli government, which closed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah,” the statement added, calling on the PA to “immediately retract and cancel the decision” and allow its teams to cover freely from the occupied West Bank “without any threats or intimidation”.
“Al Jazeera stresses that this decision will not deter it from its commitment to continue its professional coverage of events and developments in the West Bank,” it said.
On Wednesday, the PA temporarily suspended the work of Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank over “inciting material”, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported.
A ministerial committee that included the culture, interior and communications ministries decided to suspend the broadcaster’s operations for what they described as broadcasting “inciting material and reports that were deceiving and stirring strife” in the country.
The decision came after Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorates of Jenin, Qalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups.
Fatah on December 24 had accused the broadcaster of sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular” and encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.
In response, the network slammed Fatah, saying it had launched an “incitement campaign” against the network and its journalists in the occupied West Bank for its coverage of the clashes.
In its statement on Thursday, Al Jazeera Media Network said that preventing its journalists from conducting their duties is “an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps”.
The network said it was “shocked by this decision, which comes at a time when the war on the Gaza Strip is still ongoing, and the systematic targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation forces”. It said it holds the PA “fully responsible for the safety and security” of all its employees in the occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital Amman, said Palestinian security forces’ raids in Jenin were unpopular among the Palestinians in the West Bank.
“The PA has been conducting its own raids that are separate from Israeli forces … the PA has stepped up those raids in the last four weeks,” Salhut said. “These crackdowns in places like Jenin have killed several Palestinians.”
‘A big mistake’
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said Palestinians would be “astonished at this decision” to suspend Al Jazeera broadcasts.
“I think it’s a big mistake and this decision should be reversed as soon as possible,” Barghouti told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.
“If the PA has an issue with Al Jazeera, it should discuss it,” he said, especially since Al Jazeera has been “exposing the crimes against the Palestinian people … and [has been] promoting the Palestinian cause in general”.
“But more than that, it is an issue of freedom of … the press,” Barghouti said.
Israeli forces in September issued Al Jazeera with a military order to shut down operations after they raided the outlet’s bureau in the West Bank city of Ramallah – where the PA is based.
Meanwhile, the PA, which engages in security coordination with Israel, has continued its crackdown in Jenin – a stronghold for Palestinian armed groups opposing Israel’s occupation.
Several civilians, PA soldiers and armed fighters have been killed since the start of “Operation Protect the Homeland”, including Jenin Brigades commander Yazid Ja’ayseh.
The fighting has heightened Palestinian criticism of the PA, with the Popular Resistance Committees umbrella group accusing it of operating “in line with the Zionist agenda”.
