[News] Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera operations in the West Bank

[Anti-Imperialist News]

aljazeera.com
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/1/palestinian-authority-suspends-al-jazeera-operations-in-the-west-bank>
Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera operations in the West Bank
Al Jazeera
January 1, 2025
------------------------------

*PA accuses network of broadcasting ‘inciting material’ and ‘stirring
strife’ in the country.*

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has suspended the work of Al Jazeera
temporarily in the occupied West Bank over “inciting material,” Palestinian
official news agency Wafa has reported.

A ministerial committee that includes 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, Wafa reported on
Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment from Al Jazeera Media Network.

The decision comes after Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the
PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorate of Jenin in the
northern occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the
Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups in the area.

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
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/24/al-jazeera-condemns-fatah-campaign-against-it-in-west-bank>
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.

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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,” she said.
‘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 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
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/14/jenin-brigades-commander-killed-as-pa-forces-raid-occupied-west-bank-camp>
.

The fighting has focused Palestinian criticism on the PA, with the Popular
Resistance Committees umbrella group accusing the organisation of operating
“in line with the Zionist agenda”.
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