Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, on Monday ordered the closure of the Voice of Palestine radio station’s offices in Occupied East Jerusalem and Israel, Anadolu News Agency reports.
A statement by Ben-Gvir’s office attributed the move to incitement against Israel by the Palestinian radio. I will not accept and we will not allow incitement and support for terrorism and terrorists, neither by the Palestinian Authority nor by any other body.
A number of staff working for the radio station were summoned by Israeli police for questioning. In 2019, Israel closed the office of the official Palestine TV in East Jerusalem for alleged incitement against Israel.
Tensions have been running high across the Occupied West Bank in recent months, amid repeated Israeli raids into Palestinian towns.
Nearly 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year, according to Palestinian figures. Fifteen Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.
Elsewhere, Israeli military forces closed down Palestinian stores in the occupied West Bank village of Huwara near Nablus yesterday after a 30-year-old Israeli man was wounded when the vehicle he was traveling in came under fire in the village.
Israeli soldiers were also deployed in the area and several military outposts were set up.
According to Fatah official Kamal Odeh, there are traffic jams around the Huwara military checkpoint as a result of the increasing Israeli military measures within the village.
Palestinian education officials decided to close all schools today and arrange online classes instead, to avoid Palestinian students being intimidated and harassed by the increased Israeli military presence.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and Israeli officials met at a security summit yesterday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh. Egypt, Jordan and the USA also took part.
The Palestinian People’s Congress has condemned the PA’s participation in the security meeting which, it warned, provided cover for the extreme far-right Israeli occupation government to continue its crimes against the Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership, should have understood the regional and international changes, responded to the Palestinian collective will and initiated serious steps to boycott and isolate the Israeli occupation government and demand the imposition of sanctions upon it.
Violence has escalated across the occupied Palestinian territories in recent weeks, amid repeated Israeli military raids into Palestinian towns.
Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Huwara last month and carried out arson attacks on several Palestinian homes and vehicles, burning them to the ground. Palestinian aid worker Sameh Aktash was killed by the settlers, and many others were wounded
Middle East Monitor / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
This was the result of an Israeli settler setting a neighborhood on fire?