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Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera broadcasting in West Bank

Illustrative image: Smartphone screen displaying the Al Jazeera Media Network logo, placed on a computer keyboard. Photo: Shutterstock.
 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) officially decided to temporarily suspend all broadcasting from Al Jazeera in the West Bank on Wednesday, the PA’s official news agency WAFA reported.

The PA explained that the ban was imposed because the channel produces reports designed to “provoke strife and interfere in Palestinian internal affairs.”

The news agency went on to report that there would be a “temporary suspension of all journalists and staff associated with [Al Jazeera], as well as the channels under its umbrella, until its legal status is rectified, due to Al Jazeera’s violation of the laws and regulations in force in Palestine.”

Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based media organization, responded to the suspension by accusing the PA of acting “in line with the occupation’s actions,” as Al Jazeera was similarly shut down in Israel in May.

Among other allegations, Israel has accused several of Al Jazeera’s journalists in Gaza of being paid fighters for the Hamas terrorist organization.

In its statement, Al Jazeera also condemned what it described as an “ongoing campaign of incitement and intimidation by parties associated with the Palestinian Authority against Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents.”

“Al Jazeera Media Network denounces the Palestinian Authority’s decision to freeze its work and coverage in the West Bank and considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories,” the statement added.

Hamas also released a statement blasting the PA, calling its decision “a flagrant breach of media freedom and a repressive measure targeting free speech.”

The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.

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