Palestinian Authority lifts Al Jazeera ban, allowing broadcasts from the West Bank

Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah in May 2024, seven months before Israel shut them down

Sheren Falah Saab reports in Haaretz on 13 May 2025:

The Palestinian Authority lifted the ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in its territories on Monday [12 May].

According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, which is published in London and owned by Palestinians, Walid Al-Omari, head of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, stated that “President Mahmoud Abbas has lifted the ban on the Qatari channel’s operations in the Palestinian territories, and the channel is expected to resume its activities on Tuesday.”

This decision follows a ban imposed by the Palestinian Authority in January, accusing the channel of interfering in Palestinian internal affairs by broadcasting inflammatory, subversive, and inciting content.

An official in Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah confirmed to Haaretz on Monday that the channel would resume operations in the Palestinian Authority’s territories. Shabab Radio in Nablus also addressed the issue, quoting Al-Omari, who said, “The Palestinian Authority officially published a letter lifting the ban on Al Jazeera and allowing the channel to resume its operations in the Palestinian territories.”

Tensions between Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Authority escalated in January. Among other things, the Palestinian Authority banned Al Jazeera journalists from covering the funeral of one of the militants from the Jenin refugee camp.

Fatah activists posted a message on X directed at the channel’s employees: “We hope you will reconsider and leave this compromised channel that has destroyed and continues to destroy the Arab world,” they wrote. “Al Jazeera floods the media space with lies, particularly in Palestine, as it sides with a group of hostile lawbreakers and mercenaries in the Jenin camp, trying to present them as heroes resisting the occupation.”

On May 5, 2024, Israel approved a decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country. Al-Omari responded at the time, saying, “The Israeli decision jeopardizes the safety of the channel’s employees.” In September 2024, Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah and issued a closure order for the premises.

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