All you need to know is that the bureau in Ramallah has been closed by Israel

CNN

On live television, heavily armed Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s occupied West Bank bureau in Ramallah and handed the bureau head, Walid al-Omari, a notice to shut it down.
Khouri said Al Jazeera is “the primary instrument for informing the world about” Israel’s violations in Palestinian territory.
However, bureau head al-Omari said he assumes it will be renewed automatically, as has been the case with an early May civilian order Israel issued to close the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel.
Al-Omari told Al Jazeera Arabic over the phone that this likely meant that any appeal would have to go through the military courts system.
The Al Jazeera bureau is inaccessible to the team, sealed off with two large metal plates welded over the entrance.

NEGATIVE

In a live broadcast, heavily armed Israeli soldiers stormed Al Jazeera’s occupied West Bank bureau in Ramallah and gave Walid al-Omari, the head of the bureau, a notice to close it down.

All the workers at the bureau who were doing the night shift were told to leave by the soldiers, who allowed them to take only personal items.

This is all that we know about what happened and why.

The bureau was closed by whom?

Even though the bureau was located in Area A—an area designated by the Oslo Accords as being under Palestinian control—the order originated with the Israeli military authority.

Okay, so how can Israel do this if the Palestinians control Ramallah?

The Oslo Accords defined Area A, which includes Ramallah and the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) seat, has seen Israeli actions before.

Just between June and September of last year, numerous Palestinian casualties were brought about by Israeli operations in Area A, according to a report made a year ago by UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland.

The PA shares security control over Area B, which is one of the two other occupied West Bank areas, with Israel. Israel is in total control of Area C.

Israel has acted throughout the occupied West Bank with impunity, disregarding legal jurisdiction.

How come Israel raided the bureau?

As demonstrated by the cases of Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abudaqa, Ismail al-Ghoul, and Rami al-Rifi, Israel has frequently targeted Al Jazeera and its journalists, sometimes even going so far as to kill them.

Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University in Beirut, told Al Jazeera, “This is very much in line with the policy of the state of Israel since 1948 … to prevent real news about Palestinians or about what the state of Israel is doing to Palestinians … colonizing them and arresting them and torturing them.”.

However, why did Israel take this action?

Al Jazeera is charged with inciting and endorsing “terrorism” in the closure order.

According to Khouri, Al Jazeera is “the primary instrument for informing the world about” the violations that Israel has committed on Palestinian territory.

Israel, what had you done to the bureau?

Everyone who had been working in the bureau that night was instructed to leave.

They were initially instructed to leave with their cameras and personal belongings while being filmed. Ultimately, though, they were forced to leave the cameras back at the office.

When the Israeli group that raided the office included engineers, Al Jazeera’s Jivara Budeiri—who was on the job at the time of the raid—told Al Jazeera Arabic that she became concerned that the raiders may have also come to destroy the bureau’s archives.

For several hours, the only activity that could be seen while the soldiers were in the offices was one of them tearing down a large banner honoring the late Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

How is the Al Jazeera crew doing?

There have been no injuries to any team members.

They couldn’t get close to the office building to get their cars back, so they stood on the street for hours.

Also, any member of the group that moved was in danger from an Israeli weapon’s laser, according to Budeiri of Al Jazeera Arabic, so they were unable to move to cover the raid.

There was gunfire and the sound of tear gas canisters being fired all around the Al Jazeera bureau team while Israeli soldiers were demolishing items such as Shireen Abu Akleh’s banner. Additional soldiers in armored cars were also patrolling the area surrounding the building.

Can the bureau reopen at this point?

The 45-day order period is stated. But according to bureau head al-Omari, he believes it will be automatically renewed, just like the civilian order Israel issued in early May to close the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel.

What distinguishes a military order from a civil one?

Practically speaking, not much, but there are some form-related variations.

After the Israeli parliament passed the “Al Jazeera Law,” which gave the government the authority to shut down any foreign media that constituted a threat to the state for 45 days at a time, Al Jazeera’s bureau in Israel was forced to close in May.

On May 5, a phalanx of Ministry of Communications inspectors arrived at the Al Jazeera offices with this rationale in hand and seized equipment. Since then, the “temporary shutdown” has been extended and remains in effect.

An organization that is theoretically powerless over Ramallah is responsible for the closure of Ramallah.

How can this be resolved by the bureau?

One of the soldiers informed the head of the bureau, al-Omari, that any questions had to be directed to the military command that had issued the directive.

Al-Omari said over the phone to Al Jazeera Arabic that this most likely meant that any appeal would need to go via the military court system.

The Israeli military courts are based on an opaque system of administrative detentions for indefinite periods of time and “secret evidence.”.

How is the situation right now?

The team can’t enter the Al Jazeera bureau because it’s locked with two big metal plates welded over the door.

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