Israel raids and shuts down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank

[Pelican Press 0]

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******* raids and shuts down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank

A picture shows a view of the Al Jazeera television network offices in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on May 5, 2024.  

Zain Jaafar | Afp | Getty Images

******** troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the ********-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign by ******* targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it covers the *******-****** war in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera aired footage of ******** troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw ******** police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in ******* and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time ******* has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the ********-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the Palestinians hope to have for their future state.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by ******** forces. The ******** military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighboring Jordan.

Armed ******** troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut for 45 days, saying that staff needed to leave immediately. The network later aired what appeared to be ******* troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a ************-********* journalist shot ***** by ******** forces in May 2022.

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an ******** soldier told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”

Al-Omari later said that ******** troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.

The Palestinians secured limited self-rule in Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank through the 1993 Oslo agreements. While ******* occupies and controls vast areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full ************ political and security control, making the ******** raid on the Al Jazeera office that much more surprising.

The ************ Journalists Syndicate denounced the ******** raid and order.

“This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets,” it said.

The ************ Authority administers parts of the West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when ****** seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.

The network has reported on the ********-****** war nonstop since the militants’ initial cross-border ******* on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid *******’s grinding ground offensive that has ******* and wounded members of its staff. It ******** unclear whether the ******** military would target Al Jazeera’s operation in Gaza as well.

While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, Al Jazeera’s Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from ****** and other regional militant groups.

That has led to ******** claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the network has “harmed *******’s security and incited against soldiers.” Those claims have been vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main funder, Qatar, has been key in negotiations between ******* and ****** to reach a cease-***** to end the war.

An order closing Al Jazeera in ******* has been repeatedly renewed in the time since, but it hadn’t as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.

The war began when ******-led fighters ******* about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 ******* on southern *******. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages. *******’s campaign in Gaza has ******* at least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians.

The closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office also comes as tensions continue to rise over a possible expansion of the war to Lebanon, where electronic devices exploded last week in a likely sabotage campaign by ******* targeting the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

The explosions Tuesday and Wednesday ******* at least 37 people — including two children — and wounded around 3,000 others.

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