Israel Shuts Down Al Jazeera Office in Ramallah: Key Details on Israel-Palestine Conflict Events

Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s occupied West Bank bureau in Ramallah, ordering the team working overnight to leave and shutting it down. Despite being in an area under Palestinian control, the Israeli military authority issued the closure order, accusing Al Jazeera of incitement and supporting terrorism. Al Jazeera has been a primary source of information on Israeli violations in Palestinian territory. The team was not allowed to retrieve their cameras and personal belongings, and feared that the raiders had come to destroy the bureau’s archives. The closure order is for 45 days, with the possibility of renewal, similar to the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel that was closed under the “Al Jazeera Law”. The bureau head was informed that any inquiries would have to go through the military command issuing the order, meaning potential appeals would have to go through the opaque and indefinite Israeli military court system. The team is safe but unable to access the bureau, which has been sealed off with metal plates over the entrance. The raid is part of Israel’s longstanding efforts to control media coverage of Palestinian issues and suppress information about their actions in Palestinian territories.

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Photo credit www.aljazeera.com