Al Jazeera deplores the Palestinian Authority’s decision to close its office in the West Bank and considers it in line with the 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 and considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories.

This decision comes following the ongoing campaign of incitement and intimidation by parties associated with the Palestinian Authority against Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents. The decision to freeze Al Jazeera’s work and prevent its journalists from conducting their duties is an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps. And - unfortunately – such decision comes align with the previous action taken by the Israeli government, which closed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah.

Al Jazeera is shocked by this decision, which comes at a time when the war on the Gaza Strip is still on going, and the systematic targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation forces.

Al Jazeera Media Network holds the Palestinian Authority fully responsible for the safety and security of all its employees in the West Bank. Al Jazeera also calls on the Palestinian Authority to immediately retract and cancel the decision taken by the relevant ministries and to allow it and its teams to cover freely from the 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.