The narrator
The network continues to report on the plight of the Palestinian people despite threats.
Al Jazeera Media Network has power condemned The Palestinian Authority (PA) banned its activities in the West Bank in the West Bank this week, calling it “in line with Israel's actions”.
Since its inception in 1996, Al Jazeera journalists have covered the Middle East, from Arab Spring to Israeli Settler Violence in the West Bank and brutal war in Gazaeven after some news organizations released their reporters.
Since its inception, Al Jazeera has faced attempts to suppress its reporting through the arrests, detentions and harassment of its journalists. And since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, the channel has faced increasing efforts to block its reporting on Palestine.
Al Jazeera's determination to provide daytime, exclusive coverage of the terror in Gaza and the deadly terrorist attacks in the occupied West Bank came at a high cost, with at least six Al Jazeera journalists killed in the Palestinian territories since 2022.
The PA's decision to ban Al Jazeera echoes Israel's announcement last year that the channel would be banned in Israel followed by the closure of its office in Ramallah.
Here is an explanation of how Al Jazeera was censored by the PA and Israel:
When did Al Jazeera start reporting from the West Bank and Gaza?
Al Jazeera has been reporting in Palestine since 2000, marking Al Jazeera Arabic's first attempt to establish a foreign office.
Al Jazeera has offices in Ramallah and East Jerusalem in the West Bank, although both are suspended by the Israeli government or the PA.
In 2021, the Israeli army bombed the Gaza office.
How many times has the PA shut down Al Jazeera?
The PA controls parts of the occupied West Bank and has suspended Al Jazeera's operations there three times:
- In March 2001, the PA, led by then-President Yasser Arafat, stormed the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah and prevented staff from entering the building. No valid reasons were given. However, the head of the office, Walid Al-Omari, said at the time that a security official called the office and accused the group of showing “bad things” to Arafat, so that he could be removed.
- On July 15, 2009, PA security officials entered the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah and prevented its 35 employees from broadcasting. Officials said the network broadcast “falsehoods” because former Palestinian politician Farouk Kaddoumi, in an interview, accused PA President Mahmoud Abbas of complicity in an Israeli plot to assassinate Arafat. The office was allowed to reopen four days later following an outcry from media activists.
- In December 2024, Fatah, the Palestinian party that controls the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the government of JeninQalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing clashes between Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed forces. Since mid-December, the PA's security forces have been fighting armed groups that experts say are trying the PA's love for Israel and the United States. These violations have led to the killing of several civilians and West Bank journalist Shatha Sabbagh, 22.
- On January 2, 2025, the PA suspended all Al Jazeera broadcasts from the West Bank and placed restrictions on anyone working online.
How many times has Israel shut down Al Jazeera?
Israeli authorities have repeatedly tried to shut down Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long criticized the internet as “inciting violence”. The network denounces these claims as “absurd and hateful”.
- In July 2017, Netanyahu threatened to close Al Jazeera's office in Jerusalem in a Facebook post because the network covered the conflict between Palestinians and Israeli authorities at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
- In May 2021, Israel bombed the Al Jazeera office in Gaza. The Israeli army gave Al Jazeera and other media organizations in the same building one hour to evacuate the tower.
- In May 2024, Al Jazeera's offices in East Jerusalem were seized and closed after Israel's parliament passed a law allowing the government to suspend foreign media services that pose a “threat”, for 45 days at a time. The ban, including the banning of Al Jazeera's website in Israel, has been renewed several times and remains in place. Al Jazeera is now based in Amman, Jordan.
- In September 2024, an Israeli army with powerful and stealthy weapons attacked Al Jazeera's office in Ramallah closed at 3 a.m. while the office was broadcasting live. Israeli officials said the network supports “terrorism” and ordered a 45-day shutdown. Al Jazeera staff were forced to stand on the street and were threatened with a laser weapon during the attack.
How many Al Jazeera journalists have been killed or injured in the West Bank and Gaza?
At least six Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza while on duty. In most cases, the journalists were wearing well-marked clothes or were in well-marked cars.
- Shireen Abu Akleh: Veteran journalist Abu Akleh was shot and killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli attack on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Although he was wearing a helmet and vest clearly marked “Press”, a bullet from an Israeli sniper entered the bottom of his helmet. The Israeli army tried to blame the “clash” on Palestinian fighters but was forced to back down when overwhelming video evidence showed that no Palestinian fighters were nearby. No action has been taken against the shooter. Israeli soldiers stormed his funeral which was attended by thousands of Palestinians paying their respects – at one point causing his coffin to shake and almost fall to the ground.
- Samir Abuda: On December 15, 2023, an Israeli air strike injured Al Jazeera photographer Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza. Israeli authorities blocked emergency vehicles from reaching him despite pleas from other countries as he bled for hours.
- Poor Dahdouh: The head of Al Jazeera's Gaza office, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, was filming with Abudaqa and was injured in the same attack. On January 7, 2024, Dahdouh's son, Hamza Dahdouh, who also works as a journalist at Al Jazeera, was. to be killed in the attack together with his friend, Mustafa Thuraya.
- Ismail Abu Omar: On February 13, 2024, an Israeli plane hit Abu Omar, a reporter for Al Jazeera Arabic, and his cameraman, Ahmad Matar, in Rafah, southern Gaza. The two people were seriously injured.
- Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi: Al Jazeera Arab reporter al-Ghoul was speaking with cameraman al-Rifi on July 31, 2024, when an Israeli plane hit their vehicle in the Shati refugee community in Gaza City. Al-Ghoul was previously arrested and severely beaten by Israeli forces in March 2024 during a shooting at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
- Hossam Shabat: Shabat was wounded on November 20, 2024, in a second Israeli attack on a house that had just been hit, and what he said.
- Ahmed al-Louh: Israel killed Al Jazeera Arabic photojournalist al-Louh on December 15, 2024, while documenting the efforts of the Palestinian Civil Defense to rescue an injured family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza. Five other people were killed.