Two East Jerusalem newspapers Wednesday appealed to the Supreme Court to repeal an order issued Tuesday by the Interior Ministry to shut them down.
In their appeal, the daily Al-Mithak and the weekly Al-Ahd, both owned by the Khatib family, denied charges that they were organs of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is led by Dr. George Habash.
The appellants, brothers Mahmoud and Ghassan Khatib, claimed the decision to close down the papers was both arbitrary and politically motivated, and represented a government attempt to silence dissenting opinion.
The brothers, in their appeal, said the newspapers were independent, although they sometimes adopted a line similar to that of the PFLP or other organizations. The papers often attacked the PLO and the specific stand taken by Habash, they said.
The owners of the papers expressed doubt that when the Interior Ministry official instructed the closure of the papers, he used his “own, independent” consideration. They said the official had been influenced by “other authorities and elements.”
Moreover, said the appeal, the closure order was discriminatory in that other Arab newspapers in East Jerusalem, which had “no independent political line,” were allowed to continue operating.
The Ministry closed the two publications by power of 1945 emergency regulations, after warning the owners that they faced closure because they were “operated and directed” by the PFLP. The closure was condemned by Palestinian and Israeli journalists.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
