Al Jazeera slams Palestinian Authority’s move to suspend West Bank operations

Al Jazeera has condemned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to close its office in the occupied West Bank.

The news channel says the move is “in line with the [Israeli] occupation’s actions against its staff”.

“Al Jazeera Media Network denounces the Palestinian Authority’s decision to freeze its work and coverage in the West Bank. It considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories,” the Qatar-based network said in a statement on Thursday.

“And – unfortunately – such a decision comes in line with the previous action taken by the Israeli government, which closed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah,” the statement added.

Al Jazeera called on the Palestinian Authority to “immediately retract and cancel the decision” and allow its teams to cover freely from the occupied West Bank “without any threats or intimidation”.

“Al Jazeera stresses that this decision will not deter it from its commitment to continue its professional coverage of events and developments in the West Bank,” noted the statement.