Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera operations in the West Bank 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has suspended the work of Al Jazeera temporarily in the occupied West Bank over “inciting material,” Palestinian official news agency Wafa has reported.

A ministerial committee that includes the culture, interior and communications ministries decided to suspend the broadcaster’s operations for what they described as broadcasting “inciting material and reports that were deceiving and stirring strife” in the country, Wafa reported on Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment from Al Jazeera Media Network.

The decision comes after Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorate of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups in the area.

Fatah on December 24 had accused the broadcaster of sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular” and encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.

In response, the network slammed Fatah, saying it had launched an “incitement campaign” against the network and its journalists in the occupied West Bank for its coverage of the clashes.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital Amman, said Palestinian security forces’ raids in Jenin were unpopular among the Palestinians in the West Bank.

“The PA has been conducting its own raids that are separate from Israeli forces … the PA has stepped up those raids in the last four weeks,” Salhut said. “These crackdowns in places like Jenin have killed several Palestinians,” she said.

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said Palestinians would be “astonished at this decision” to suspend Al Jazeera broadcasts.

“I think it’s a big mistake and this decision should be reversed as soon as possible,” Barghouti told Al Jazeera from Ramallah.

“If the PA has an issue with Al Jazeera, it should discuss it,” he said, especially since Al Jazeera has been “exposing the crimes against the Palestinian people … and [has been] promoting the Palestinian cause in general”.

“But more than that, it is an issue of freedom of … the press,” Barghouti said.

Israeli forces in September issued Al Jazeera with a military order to shut down operations after they raided the outlet’s bureau in the West Bank city of Ramallah – where the PA is based.

Meanwhile, the PA, which engages in security coordination with Israel, has continued its crackdown in Jenin – a stronghold for armed groups opposing Israel’s occupation.

Several civilians, PA soldiers and armed fighters have been killed since the start of “Operation Protect the Homeland”, including Jenin Brigades commander Yazid Ja’ayseh.

The fighting has focused Palestinian criticism on the PA, with the Popular Resistance Committees umbrella group accusing the organisation of operating “in line with the Zionist agenda”.