Ramallah - 29/04/2014 : The Israeli occupation authorities  send a letter to Watan  TV in the city of Ramallah, asking  it to stop broadcasting immediately , otherwise action will be taken against the TV.

The director of Watan TV Muammar Orabi told MADA center that the TV lawyer has received the letter,he  expressed his fear of the occupation raid of the TV headquarters, but stressed at the same time that they will not stop broadcasting because the letter is not legal , since the TV is licensed officially by the Palestinian Ministry of Communication and IT.

 Orabi said: " We brought experts in the field of  frequencies and they assured us that the frequencies do not pose a threat to their security as they claim, their allegations are incorrect, their goal is to obstruct the Palestinian media institutions work which constitutes infringement of the freedom of expression.”

 The Israeli occupation forces raided Watan TV on 29/2/2012 , and confiscated equipment worth 300 thousand dollars in addition to the TV archive since 2002 , and has also raided the TV in 2002 and confiscated  the TV archive since its establishment in 1996.

For his part, MADA general director Mousa  Rimawi stressed the need for international solidarity with the Watan TV  and the Palestinian media , which faced serious violations by the occupation authorities.

  Sheraa TV in Tulkarem city was forced to stop broadcasting in last February, after received numerous threats from the Israeli occupation authorities, because they claimed the TV broadcasting disturbs the "Ben-Gurion" airport near the city of Al-lid, and Israeli communications.

The TV Director Mohamed Zeidan told MADA in that time they consulted a number of technicians from the Palestinian Ministry of Communications and Al-Najah University, who confirmed that the devices do not cause any interference. After they presented the Palestinian liaison center with proof certificates, the IOF dropped its claims and said that the broadcasting was interfering with an Israeli TV broadcasting.

 The administration of the TV changed the frequencies and began broadcasting recently again, Zaidan said the financial losses of the TV is 24,400 dollars “the price of new equipment of the new frequencies, in addition to the losses of the ads due to the closure since February” .

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) expresses its deep concern on the work of watan TV and the safety of its employees if the IOF raid the TV headquarters, or will take any further action against it.