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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Ensuring a compliant media
By Khaled AmayrehIn an effort to stifle criticism of its talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has clamped down on independent media in the West Bank and on an outspoken figure in the authority's media apparatus. The latest measures include the closure of several radio and television stations in the area.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), one of the PA's estimated 13 security agencies, ordered Omar Nazzal, director of the Ramallah-based private television station Al-Watan, to cease broadcasting immediately.
The PA gave no reasons for the closure, but Nazzal suggested it had to do with comments voiced by a viewer during a phone-in show in which the viewer scoffed at remarks made earlier by PA President Yasser Arafat discounting the victory of Hizbullah in south Lebanon.
In an interview with the Israeli Channel Two television station, Arafat said that the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon was prompted by Israel's desire to carry out UN resolution 425 and had nothing to do with Hizbullah resistance.
The remarks angered many Palestinians who describe Arafat's remarks as "stupid" and "sycophantic" prompting the PA-controlled media to reassert Palestinian solidarity with "the Lebanese national resistance."
On 23 May, as it was clear that Nazzal's Al-Watan had not violated any laws, the PA Ministry of Information gave the station permission to resume broadcasting. However, when it did, CID agents stormed Al-Watan's studio in downtown Ramallah, ordering all employees to leave the building or be arrested.
When Nazzal tried to tell the heavily armed CID agents that the Ministry of Information had given him permission to broadcast, they replied that they did not recognise the ministry's authority.
The station was eventually allowed to reopen on 24 May, apparently after Marwan Al-Barghouthi, head of Fatah's supreme council in the West Bank, interceded with some influential PA officials on Nazzal's behalf.
The closure of Al-Watan was the fifth of its kind since it began broadcasting in 1996.
The clamp-down continued on 30 May when the same CID agents raided the studios and offices of the private television station Al-Nasser and its sister radio station, Al-Manara, in Ramallah for airing criticisms of the secret talks between Israel and the PA in Stockholm.
The criticisms were reportedly made during a talk-show when a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council suggested that new leadership might be necessary for Palestinians to attain their rights.
"This is a grave violation of basic press freedom, they [the PA] are trying to replicate Arab dictatorships here by fostering an atmosphere of fear and terror to deter the citizens from criticising the government," said Al-Nasser's director, Ammar Ammar, in reaction to the closure.
The closure of Al-Nasser was widely criticised by pro-democracy groups, human rights organisations as well as many Palestinian journalists.
However, the PA seemed utterly unmoved by these criticisms.
This was demonstrated on 1 June, when CID agents closed down the Al-Mahed television station in Bethlehem and arrested its owner, Samir Qumsiyeh.
Qumsiyeh, who is also the director of the Union of Private TV and Radio Stations owners, had earlier circulated a memo asking member stations to interrupt their programme schedules for a half hour with a message protesting PA suppression of the press.
PA police had earlier arrested Fathi Barqawi, chief news editor at the Voice of Palestine, the official PA radio station, for "incitement and vilifying the Palestinian leadership."
Barqawi was arrested in his hometown of Tulkarm reportedly after voicing criticisms of the Stockholm talks and implying that Arafat was about to make "drastic concessions" to Israel on paramount issues such as the future of Jerusalem and the fate of some 4 million Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes when Israel was created in 1948.
Many Palestinians view this recent crackdown on the media as a harbinger of PA actions if there is any opposition to a deal it concludes with Israel. While Arafat's conscience does not seem to have been troubled by the suppression of a wide range of opposition activists since the PA was established, what he needs to consider now is that if the PA cuts a deal viewed to betray the Palestinian struggle, he may be sending his security men out to arrest members of his own political organisation, Fatah.
