Hamas orders television program off air

John Smith - IMEMC & agencies. 3/08/07. The Hamas movement on Tuesday ordered a Gaza television station to halt its broadcasting of a political affairs program, a move that has incurred the anger of the Gaza union of Journalists. The weekly program “Red Line” is broadcast by Palestine Television, a station that recently moved to an alternative broadcast site after Hamas established control over its main facility several weeks ago. The Deputy Minister of Information in Gaza, Hassan Abu Hasheesh, stated that the ban was not implemented because of the content of the program, but because the station “ignored the government in Gaza to which it must report.” The station has refused to acknowledge the authority of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Chairman of the Palestinian Journalists’ syndicate Tawfiq Abu Khoussa characterized the action as a serious “suppression of press and media freedoms.”