Fayyad backs down on Al-Jazeera ban, still plans to sue

[Gasopol111]

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has suspended his decision to shut down the West Bank offices of Al-Jazeera satellite network, but still plans to sue it, the channel reported on Saturday evening.

In his capacity as deputy minister of information, Fayyad ordered the bureau's suspension on 15 July, the day after it aired allegations against President Mahmoud Abbas.

On the 14 July edition of "Behind the News," an Al-Jazeera talk show, Farouq al-Qadumi, a high-ranking PLO and Fatah official currently in Amman, Jordan, accused Abbas and his adviser Muhammad Dahlan of participating in what he said was an Israeli plot to assassinate the former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Arafat died of unknown causes in Paris in 2004.

According to the network on Saturday, Fayyad still plans to sue Al-Jazeera, basing his decision on the 1995 Press and Publications Law (No. 9), television licensing regulations from 2004, and "the high interests of the Palestinian people." The prime minister instructed Attorney General Ahmed Al-Mughni to prosecute Al-Jazeera for "incitement and false information," as well, according to a prior statement.

A plethora of Palestinian and international rights organizations slammed both decisions, calling them obvious attempts to shut down criticism. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Palestinian Media Forum urged Fayyad to quickly reverse the decision, while the International Federation of Journalists and Human Rights Watch said the move was evidence that the PA does not respect free speech.

Earlier this week Fayyad insisted in a statement to Ma'an that the Palestinian Authority respects freedom of the press and neutral reporting, but was nevertheless required to protect the Palestinian national interest, and clamp down on incitement and instability.



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