Ramallah- After a wide campaign of incitement, the Israeli occupation authorities decided to close the Tel Aviv Tribune office in Ramallah. They stormed it at dawn on Sunday, confiscated its contents, prevented its employees from working, and then closed its entrance with welded sheet metal panels.
The headquarters includes the offices of Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic and English news channels, and is located in a building in the center of Ramallah, which is under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, which granted it a work permit.
The closure of the Ramallah office comes at a time when the channel’s office in the city of Jerusalem remains closed, which was extended on July 21 for 45 days for the third time, and after a series of assassinations of its correspondents and employees.
Closing implications
According to analysts who spoke to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, the closure of the office indicates two things: the first is that conveying the truth is followed by prosecution, and the second is the absence of influential media outlets from the situation on the ground, especially what is happening and will happen in the West Bank and on the border with Lebanon.
Political analyst Omar Assaf says that targeting Tel Aviv Tribune is related to an Israeli policy of gagging and the situation on the ground on various fronts.
He added – in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that the assassination of the channel’s correspondent, Shireen Abu Akleh, in May 2022 is not far from the Israeli approach aimed at gagging mouths, as “anyone who can convey the truth is silenced, this is an approach.”
But why now? Assaf asks, and answers, “I think we are really going to escalate on all fronts, not just in southern Lebanon as they have been doing for a week, but also in the West Bank.”
He continued, “They do not want to film what they are doing, and by targeting Tel Aviv Tribune they want to terrorize other media outlets, and send a message to all the press and media outlets that there are limits and controls for the occupation that are not allowed to be crossed, and it can take any measures to pursue it, and this is terrorizing all media outlets so that they become disciplined and take it into account.”
Regarding the political significance of closing an office in an area classified as “A,” which is supposed to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority, Assaf said that there is no longer an “A” or “B” area, and that “the entire country is open to attack on all levels. They practically enter all places all day and all the time.”
The Oslo Accords stipulated dividing the West Bank into three temporary administrative areas: “A”, which is under full Palestinian control and constitutes 21% of its area; “B”, which is under Israeli security control and Palestinian civil control and constitutes 18%; and “C”, which constitutes 61% of the West Bank’s area and is under full Israeli control. However, in reality, all areas are under full Israeli control.
Assaf added that the raids are taking place without stopping, pointing out that prisoner Abla Saadat was arrested a few days ago from her home, 150 meters away from the wall of the compound and the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency.
Since the West Bank is being violated, we asked the Palestinian analyst what kind of escalation awaits it? He answered, “The escalation is natural because people cannot remain silent about what is happening to them, and resistance groups in many areas of the West Bank are coming out to defend their sanctities and their existence in the West Bank.”
He added, “Therefore, in response to these people defending themselves, the occupation may resort to escalatory means, such as unleashing the settlers and the army and pursuing the Bedouin communities in all areas, including the camps and the Jordan Valley.”
Blocked due to impact
Regarding his explanation for the closure of Tel Aviv Tribune, Dr. Saeed Shaheen, a professor of media at Hebron University, says that Tel Aviv Tribune’s editorial policy has exposed, to a very large extent, the crimes committed by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the video clips it publishes have greatly stirred public opinion, and therefore Israel believes that this is sufficient to strip it of its legitimacy.
Shaheen added – in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that Tel Aviv Tribune is classified by Israel as a hostile channel, and it is alleged that it is carrying out a great deal of incitement against the occupying state, “and therefore the decision came to close the channel and conceal the truth from the world.”
The media professor continued that Israel believes that Tel Aviv Tribune, through its great capabilities, can influence global and international public opinion and even the decisions of international organizations that seek to establish justice and control Israel’s barbaric behavior against the Palestinians and its commission of horrific crimes and genocide.
He says, “Tel Aviv Tribune’s policy is generally biased towards the truth, and this does not please the decision-makers within the security and political establishment in Israel, which saw that it was necessary to take steps such as closing the office inside (1948) and now the office in the West Bank.”
On the field level, Shaheen does not rule out that the Palestinian territories will witness an escalation that coincides with the escalation taking place in Gaza and the northern front with Lebanon, “and therefore they do not want the truth to reach the world.”
Mute the West Bank
The issue of closing Tel Aviv Tribune’s office has been rooted in Israeli thinking for many years, with the aim of monopolizing the Palestinian media arena, according to Azzam Abu Al-Adas, a researcher specializing in Israeli affairs.
Abu Al-Adas added – in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that Tel Aviv Tribune, in addition to the resistance media, has provided martyrs and wounded unlike any other Arab media channel, which indicates that it is at the heart of the media conflict.
He pointed out that there was “intense anger at Tel Aviv Tribune’s coverage among the security services, which consider it a factor of incitement and awareness of what has been happening throughout Palestinian history and the Palestinian cause, and thus the decision was made to close it.”
Regarding the course of the war, Abu Al-Adas believes that Israel wants what is happening in Gaza to remain inside Gaza without being transmitted to the world, pointing to “an expected escalation in the West Bank, and no one denies that Israel’s next plans are for the West Bank.”
The Palestinian researcher points to the “decisive plan” that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich put in place years ago, with the West Bank at its core, “and therefore the issue of silencing the voice of the West Bank by silencing the voice of Tel Aviv Tribune is a possible and realistic matter.”
Regarding the form of the coming escalation, Abu Al-Adas expects a clash between Palestinian citizens and settlers, “as there are now two communities in the West Bank, one of which has 800,000 settlers, including 150,000 armed men who are motivated by an ideology of extermination against the other community, which is the Palestinians.”
He said that the plans, drawn up by religious Zionism and supervised by Smotrich and the West Bank Settlements Council, aim to eliminate the Palestinian presence, and at some point the West Bank will get out of control and a clash will occur between the people and the settlers.