The PA accuses the network of broadcasting ‘inciting material’ and ‘inciting conflict’ in the country.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has temporarily suspended Al Jazeera’s operations in the occupied West Bank due to “inciting material”, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
A ministerial committee that includes the ministries of culture, interior and communications decided to suspend the broadcaster for what it described as broadcasting “inciting material and reports that were misleading and fueled conflict” in the country, Wafa reported on Wednesday.
Al Jazeera Media Network did not immediately comment.
The decision came after Fatah, the Palestinian faction that dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from Jenin province in the northern occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups in the area.
On December 24, Fatah accused the broadcaster of sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and Palestine in particular” and encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.
In response, the network slammed Fatah, saying it launched an “incitement campaign” against the network and its journalists in the occupied West Bank for reporting on the conflict.
Al Jazeera journalist Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital Amman, said the raids by Palestinian security forces in Jenin were unpopular among Palestinians in the West Bank.
“The PA has been carrying out its own attacks that are separate from Israeli forces… The PA has stepped up these attacks in the last four weeks,” Salhut said. “These actions in places like Jenin have killed several Palestinians,” she said.
‘Big mistake’
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said Palestinians would be “appalled by this decision” to suspend Al Jazeera’s 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 a problem with Al Jazeera, it should talk about it,” he said, especially since Al Jazeera “exposes crimes against the Palestinian people… and [has been] promoting the Palestinian cause in general”.
“But more than that, it’s an issue of freedom … of the press,” Barghouti said.
In September, Israeli forces issued Al Jazeera with a military cease-and-desist order after raiding the correspondent in the West Bank city of Ramallah – where the PA is based.
Meanwhile, the PA, which is involved in security coordination with Israel, continued its crackdown on Jenin, a stronghold of armed groups opposed to the Israeli occupation.
Several civilians, PA soldiers and armed combatants have been killed since the start of “Operation Protect the Homeland”, incl Jenin Brigade Commander Yazid Ja’ayseh.
The fighting has focused Palestinian criticism of the PA, with the Popular Resistance Committee umbrella group accusing the organization of acting “in accordance with Zionist agendas”.
