A shameful decision that should be reversed. Such moves show a disturbing tendency in the Palestinian elite to not tolerate dissent:
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Palestinian Authority’s decision today to suspend the operations of Al-Jazeera in the West Bank after the satellite channel aired a controversial… interview on Tuesday. The suspension, according to a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information statement, will remain in place until “the judiciary issues a ruling on the subject.”
The Ministry of Information’s actions came a day after Al-Jazeera broadcast its talk show “Behind the News” from Doha, Qatar, to discuss accusations made earlier in the day by Faruq al-Qadumi, a Fatah party leader, against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Al-Qadumi had told journalists in… Amman,… Jordan, on Tuesday that Abbas and the former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, Muhammad Dahlan, were involved with Ariel Sharon in a plot to assassinate former President Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders in 2004, according to regional news reports. Many Arab media outlets, including Al-Jazeera, reported on the accusations. ”Ž