Ramallah - The leading Palestinian news agency Ramattan shut
down Monday, charging the West Bank-based administration of President
Mahmoud Abbas had been 'obstructing' its work.
Ramattan said in a statement that the Ramallah-based Palestinian
Interior Ministry had been harassing its staff, preventing them from
entering Abbas' presidential headquarters to do their work and that
police had arrested several staff members.
The agency, based in Ramallah and Gaza City, is independent and
privately owned, but Abbas' bitter rival, the radical Islamic Hamas
movement ruling Gaza, often uses its offices in Gaza City, and in the
past also its Ramallah headquarters, for holding news conferences.
Some officials in Abbas' West Bank administration are said to be
displeased that Ramattan has been giving Hamas an unlimited platform
for voicing its opinions.
Acting Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki, however, said
the news agency's refusal to pay overdue fees was the real reason for
the government's action against it.
'Once it pays its dues and gets the proper licence to open a media
office, there will be nothing to prevent it from operating,' he said.
Ramattan countered that the Palestinian caretaker government in
Ramallah demands large amounts of money in current and back fees. It
charged the demanded fees were higher than other media had to pay and
more than it could afford.
It said it had decided to suspend all its operations in both the
West Bank and Gaza to protest the Palestinian government actions.
Ramattan, owned by Palestinian businessmen, mainly provides live
television footage to international and Arab media organizations
subscribed to it. It has been operating in the Palestinian
territories for some 10 years.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story