by Andrea Tucci,
On live television, on September 22 nd armed Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau in Ramallah, a notice to shut it down.
Despite the bureau being in Area A, an area by the Oslo Accords of 1993 declared as being under Palestinian control, the Israeli soldiers have ordered to everyone working at the bureau to leave within 10 minutes. This is not the first time Israel has undertaken actions in the Area A ( where Ramallah is) one year ago there had been many Palestinian casualties caused by Israeli operations in Area A.
The other two areas in the occupied West Bank are Area B, which the Palestinian Authority also administers on paper, sharing security control with Israel and the Area C is under complete Israeli control.
Regardless of legal jurisdiction, Israel act always with impunity across the occupied West Bank.
Israel has often targeted Al Jazeera and its journalists, at times going as far as killing them, as it did Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abudaqa, Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi.
The closure order accuses Al Jazeera of incitement and supporting “terrorism”. But the truth is that Al Jazeera is one of the primary instrument for informing the world about Israel’s violations in Palestinian territory.
At the beginning at the entire team working in the bureau were told on camera that they could leave with their personal belongings and cameras, later the Israelis army had been obliged to leave the cameras in the office.
Photo: Israelis army ordering the immediate closure of the Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah, West Bank
The order of closure Al Jazeera is for 45 days, however, we are assuming that it will be renewed automatically, as has been the case of closing the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel.
Al Jazeera’s bureau in Israel was closed in May after the Israeli parliament passed what became known as the “Al Jazeera Law”, which allowed the government to shut down , for 45 days at a time, any foreign media that posed a threat to the state. The “temporary” shutdown of the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel has been renewed since then and still holds!
The Ramallah closure comes from an authority that does not, in theory, have any power over Ramallah.
The policy of the state of Israel is to do not show real news about Palestinians or about what the state of Israel is doing to Palestinians and the closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau further heightens concerns over press freedom in the region.
Al Jazeera has long been a critical source of information on Israel’s military operations and human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories, in order to prevent, since 1948, the dissemination of information about its policies toward Palestinians, including colonization, arrests, and torture.
Al Jazeera plays a vital role in bringing global attention to these issues, making it a frequent target of Israeli authorities.
What’s frightening isn’t the closure of the channel itself, but the speed with which such a thing can happen and create fertile ground for similar practices inside Israel. Harm to freedom of expression in the Palestinian territories will also seep into Israel. The most salient example of this is the arrest of Israelis demonstrating for a deal to bring the hostages home and to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
According to an article published by “The Economist ”, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East.
The Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah is now NOT accessible to anybody and the entrance of the office is been completely sealed off with two large metal plates welded over the entrance…
Well, we hope a really SHORT LIFE to this kind of Democracy!!
Photo: The Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah. The entrance of the office is been completely sealed off
