On live television, heavily armed Israeli soldiers raided Tel Aviv Tribune’s office in the occupied West Bank of Ramallah and handed the bureau’s director, Walid al-Omari, a notice of closure.
The soldiers ordered everyone working night shifts at the office to leave, telling them they could only take their personal belongings.
What happened and why? Here’s everything we know:
Who closed the office?
The order came from the Israeli military authority although the office is located in Area A, an area demarcated as being under Palestinian control in the Oslo Accords.
Wait, so if Ramallah is under Palestinian control, how can Israel do this?
This is not the first time that Israel has taken action in Area A defined by the Oslo Accords, where Ramallah is located and where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is based.
A year ago, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, reported that between June and September last year, many Palestinian casualties were caused by Israeli operations in Area A.
The other two areas of the occupied West Bank are Area B, which the PA also administers on paper, sharing security control with Israel. Area C is entirely under Israeli control.
Regardless of the competent jurisdiction, Israel acts with impunity throughout the occupied West Bank.
Why did Israel raid the office?
Israel has often targeted Tel Aviv Tribune and its journalists, sometimes going so far as to kill them – as in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abudaqa, Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi.
“This is very much in line with the policy of the State of Israel since 1948… which aims to prevent any real information about the Palestinians or what the State of Israel is doing to the Palestinians… by colonizing them, arresting them and torturing them,” Rami Khouri, a distinguished research fellow at the American University of Beirut, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
But why did Israel do this?
The shutdown order accuses Tel Aviv Tribune of inciting and supporting “terrorism.”
Khouri said Tel Aviv Tribune is “the world’s leading reporting channel on” Israeli violations in Palestinian territory.
What did Israel do in the office?
The entire team working in the office during the night was ordered to leave.
At first, they were told on camera that they had to leave with their personal belongings and cameras. But they eventually had to leave the cameras at the office.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Jivara Budeiri, who was working at the time of the raid, told Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic that the Israeli group that attacked the office included engineers, leading him to fear that the attackers had also come to destroy the office’s archives.
The soldiers remained in the offices for a few hours, during which the only thing that could be observed was some of them tearing down a large banner of the murdered Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh.
Is the Tel Aviv Tribune team doing well?
No one on the team was injured.
They spent hours standing in the street, away from the office building, unable to get close to it to retrieve their cars.
They were also, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic’s Budeiri, unable to move to cover the raid, as any member of the group who moved was under threat of laser fire from an Israeli weapon.
As Israeli soldiers were inside the Tel Aviv Tribune office destroying items like Shireen Abu Akleh’s banner, other soldiers in armored cars were patrolling the area around the building, and the office team could hear gunshots and tear gas canisters all around.
When can the office reopen?
The order is valid for 45 days. However, bureau director al-Omari said he assumed it would be renewed automatically, as was the case with the civil order issued by Israel in early May to close Tel Aviv Tribune’s bureau in Israel.
What is the difference between a civil order and a military order?
In practice, probably nothing, but there are some differences in form.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s bureau in Israel was closed in May after the Israeli parliament passed what was known as the “Tel Aviv Tribune law,” which allowed the government to shut down, for 45 days, any foreign media outlet that posed a threat to the state.
It was with this justification that a large number of inspectors from the Ministry of Communications arrived at Tel Aviv Tribune’s offices and confiscated equipment on May 5. The “temporary closure” has since been renewed and is still in effect.
The closure of Ramallah comes from an authority that, in theory, has no power over Ramallah.
What can the office do about this?
The head of the office, al-Omari, was informed by one of the soldiers that any inquiries should be addressed to the military command that had given the order.
Al-Omari told Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic by telephone that this likely meant any appeal would have to go through the military court system.
Israeli military courts operate on the basis of an opaque system of “secret evidence” and indefinite administrative detentions.
What is the situation now?
The Tel Aviv Tribune office is inaccessible to the team, sealed by two large metal plates welded over the entrance.