Palestinian Authority shuts down Al Jazeera websites

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has come under fire after the Magistrate Court in Ramallah, located in the occupied West Bank, ordered the closure of several Al Jazeera websites for four months, according to court documents.

In a letter issued on Sunday, the attorney general’s office instructed the Palestinian Ministry of Communication to enforce the decision. The affected websites include aljazeera.net, aljazeera.net/live, aljazeera360.com, and global.ajplus.net.

The court order demanded all licensed broadcasting companies comply “under penalty of legal accountability,” claiming the websites contained material that "threatens national security and incites the commission of crimes."

Critics have decried the move as a troubling escalation in the PA's restrictions on press freedom, accusing it of mirroring Israeli practices aimed at silencing dissenting voices and limiting coverage of events in the occupied territories. 

The General Union of Arab Journalists has also strongly criticised the Palestinian Authority’s decision to close Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank, urging an immediate reversal of the move.