Khaled Abu Toameh reports in Gatestone that the Palestinian Authority is considering a new law that not only restricts what local Palestinian media can report, but is meant to stop even foreign media from reporting anything critical about the PA or Palestinians altogether.
The law would grant the Minister of Information the right to block any Palestinian or foreign media from operating in territory administered by the PA if they don't "respect Palestinian identity and history:" or if they produce "any material that would prejudice the Palestinian identity or prejudice the Palestinian narrative."
Which means that the PA would be able to take away the media licenses of anyone who is even mildly critical of the corrupt PA and its fake narratives.
Abu Toameh notes:
The timing of the proposed bill is not coincidental.It comes on the eve of the meeting in a few weeks of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, a committee consisting of donor countries that serves as the main policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people.The PA leadership is hoping that the committee will approve additional and unconditional funding for the Palestinians.That is why it is critical for PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and his senior officials in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians, to ensure that the media remains muzzled about rampant corruption and other issues related to bad governance, and human rights violations by the Palestinian security forces.Palestinians on the street are saying that instead of working towards guaranteeing a free media and freedom of expression, the PA is seeking to tighten its grip on Palestinian media outlets as part of an effort to prevent the publication of stories that reflect negatively on the PA leadership.
The bill has not been passed yet, and it remains to be seen if the journalists who would be affected will say anything negative about it. Given the history of Palestinian censorship and suppression of the local media that has been ignored in the West, it seems more likely that the international media already has adopted all of these standards in reporting on the Palestinian Authority and has no problem whatsoever in it being codified into law.
Ironically, only Palestinian media organizations are protesting this proposed legislation so far.
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