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Twenty-four years ago, while in charge of a small television operation at Al Quds University, my team and I decided to broadcast live sessions of the Palestinian Legislative Council dealing with corruption in the newly established Palestinian Authority. The broadcast angered people in Yasser Arafat’s entourage and I was arrested and jailed for seven days without any explanation.
I recall that event after Nizar Banat, a popular and vocal critic of President Mahmoud Abbas’ leadership, was arrested on Thursday by Palestinian security forces and died after a few hours in custody. Banat’s relatives say he was brutally beaten. The police had stormed into a home in Hebron to find Banat, who had been in hiding there, hoping it would be safe from the security forces when his own home was sprayed with warning shots after he criticized Abbas’ April 29 decision to postpone the legislative elections. Those elections would have been the first since 2006.
Death of an Abbas opponent in Palestinian detention stokes revulsion toward his rule
haaretz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from haaretz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Critic of Abbas dies in Palestinian custody, U N demands investigation
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Fatah official welcomes reopening of US Consulate in East Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, Wednesday, May 26, 2021 (WAFA) – Fatah Central Committee member, Hussein al-Sheikh, today welcomed the US decision to reopen its consulate in East Jerusalem.
Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, al-Sheikh stated that the decision announced by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, that his country will go ahead with reopening its consulate in the occupied city of East Jerusalem is “deemed the most important decision taken by the new US administration” and “sends a clear message that East Jerusalem is part of the territories that Israel has been since 1967”.
“The announcement on the reopening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem implies the collapse of the so-called Deal of the Century, touted by the former US administration, and serves as a ground for the restoration of normal relations with the US, so that it would function as an effective and influential actor to resume negotiations based