Israeli Soldiers Raided Two Palestinian Television Stations

Article 36 pledges a joint committee of technical experts to address any issue arising on the topic of communications.

Employees walk in a studio at the local private television station "Watan" after Israeli troops raided this and another Palestinian television station in the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight, seizing computers and broadcasting equipment, (Photo: AFP - Abbas Momani)

(WEST BANK, Occupied Palestine) - Israeli soldiers raided two television stations in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in a “monstrous” attack on Palestinian journalism.

Soldiers confiscated computers and transmitters, while four employees were briefly detained following the raids on Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad visited one of the stations, Watan TV in Ramallah, and said the Israeli operation was "oppressive and monstrous" and violated "all international laws."

"This attack is nothing but piracy under a policy of systematic attacks targeting Palestinian media organizations and journalists," Watan TV said in a statement.

The Israeli military said the channels had been asked repeatedly to stop using frequencies that cut into Israeli wireless communications and air traffic control bands.

"Soldiers accompanied Communications Ministry officials to the pirate stations...a number of transmitters were seized," a military spokesman said.

Ramallah is the seat of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and Israeli troops man checkpoints on the edges of the city, just north of Jerusalem.

Fayyad said the raid represented an attack against "what is left of the Palestinian Authority's status in the West Bank," an apparent reference to Israel's overall security control of the territory, which it occupied in 1967 and where it has built more than 120 illegal settlements.

Suleiman Zuheiri, undersecretary of the Palestinian ministry of telecommunication in Ramallah, warned that the situation could cause a political crisis as Israel had breached Article 36 of the Oslo Agreement, which requires consultations with the PA on communications issues.

Article 36 pledges a joint committee of technical experts to address any issue arising on the topic of communications.

Zuheiri said the unilateral move broke the terms of the Oslo Agreement.

Ahmed Milhem, a Watan TV employee, said the station, owned by local non-governmental organizations, broadcasts news and cultural and political programs. He said the raid lasted about three hours.

"They seized computers, broadcast equipment, and administrative files," Milhem told Reuters by telephone. "The station is now off the air."

Al Quds television said it expected to receive replacement equipment later in the day and begin broadcasting again.

Sources: Al-Akhbar, Reuters, Ma'an

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