The Palestinian Authority decided to lift on Tuesday its four-month-old ban on Al Jazeera broadcasting from Judea and Samaria, Ramallah confirmed to The New York Times.
P.A. legal official Akram Khatib told the Times on Monday that P.A. head Mahmoud Abbas had decided to cancel the ban, which went into effect on Jan. 1, and that a court would issue an order to that effect on Tuesday.
The official declined to explain to the Times what prompted the change in the P.A.’s policy toward the Qatari state-sponsored satellite channel, which it previously accused of “incitement and false reports that stir internal unrest and interfere in internal Palestinian affairs.”
Waleed Omari, Al Jazeera‘s Ramallah bureau chief, confirmed the P.A. move on Monday to the Israeli-Palestinian Foreign Press Association.
Abbas “has decided to lift the ban on the Al Jazeera network and allow its crews to resume work … starting tomorrow morning,” Omari stated.
On Jan. 1, the P.A. announced further restrictions against Al Jazeera, suspending the network’s broadcasts throughout Judea and Samaria and banning its reporters from operating in all areas under its control.
Ramallah had decided to block Al Jazeera and “suspend the work [permits] of all journalists, employees, crews and channels affiliated with it,” Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official news site, announced at the time.
A month earlier, the P.A.’s ruling Fatah party had banned Al Jazeera from operating in northern Samaria due to its glorification of Iranian-backed terrorism.
Fatah said it banned the channel from broadcasting from Samaria’s Jenin Governorate, where the majority of the territory is controlled by the P.A., and urged Palestinians to boycott the Qatari channel.
Ramallah accused Al Jazeera of playing a “dangerous role” through its news coverage of armed clashes between P.A. forces and Iranian-backed terror organizations in the city of Jenin. In a statement quoted by local media, Fatah blamed Al Jazeera for “discord” among Palestinians.
On Sept. 22, Israeli soldiers served Al Jazeera‘s office in Ramallah with a temporary closure order. The decision to ban Al Jazeera was preceded by similar moves by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
Al Jazeera “is a media outlet that disseminates false content, which includes incitement against Israelis and Jews and constitutes a threat to IDF soldiers,” Nitzan Chen, the director of Israel’s Government Press Office, which is part of the Prime Minister’s Office, said in September.