Ramallah, July 17: The Palestinian government’s closure of the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday proves the West Bank government is trying to silence the media and “cover up what is going on in the West Bank” – a reference to Abbas’ crackdown on Hamas – according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was “deeply concerned” about the closure. It urged the Palestinian Authority to resolve the issue and uphold freedom of the press.
West Bank political analyst Khalil Shaheen, a guest on the show, believed to have caused offence, said he disagreed with some views expressed, but that Al Jazeera shouldn’t be punished for airing them.
“That’s one issue,” he said of his disagreements with the other guests, “but the continuation of freedom of opinion and expression is another.”
For the feisty news station – the Arab world’s most popular – the closure represents the latest clash with a Middle Eastern government. Israel often criticises it, Iraq has expelled it and Saudi Arabia only let it resume work recently after a long ban.
But in shutting Al Jazeera down, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may be picking a fight with one of the most potent shapers of Arab public opinion.
The Palestinian Information Ministry accused Al Jazeera of incitement and unbalanced reporting and took issue with a broadcast on Tuesday, without providing further details.
“Everybody evaluated what they have seen from that channel in the last days if not more, the last days’ was clear incitment against the PA [Palestinian National Authority],” Information Minister Riad Al Malki told the Associated Press from the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit in Egypt.
“We are not curtailing [press freedom]. We are respecting the law, that is why we asked the legal system to act,” he added.
The ministry is suing Al Jazeera and the station’s operations are suspended until the court has ruled.
Al Jazeera employees were seen frantically piling files into black garbage bags and carrying them out with video cameras, computers and other equipment before Palestinian security officials closed the office.
Al Jazeera’s Qatar headquarters issued a statement saying the station “has maintained strict, professional journalistic standards”.
Walid Al Omary, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Occupied Jerusalem, also denied accusations of bias.
“We are sorry about this decision, which we consider a violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in this country,” he said.
Abbas’ aides have long alleged that the Qatar-based station, widely watched in the Palestinian territories, favours the Islamic resistance group Hamas in the bitter Palestinian power struggle.
An alleged transcript purporting to show details of a plot to kill Yasser Arafat released to the media by a political adversary of Abbas is causing a major storm in the Palestinian areas.
According to the document, whose authenticity could not be verified independently, former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon suggested in a March 2, 2004 meeting with Abbas and his former security adviser Mohammad Dahlan that Arafat should be poisoned.
Abbas, according to the transcript, protested that this could cause “serious difficulties”.
But he did not storm out of the meeting in shock.
The transcript was presented by Farouq Al Qaddoumi, a senior member of Abbas’ Fatah party and of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee, at a news conference in Amman on Monday.
-Agencies