Israeli troops close Palestinian TV station

Israeli troops raided and closed on Wednesday a private Palestinian television station, al-Watan TV, located in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, Anna Ukolova, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Army, said. “We have warned the company several times about illegal broadcasting but they did not react. The company is pirate since it used prohibited broadcasting frequencies,” she said. Sources in the Palestinian company said they never got any warnings and the Wednesday raid came unexpectedly. They also denounced the act and called it a violation of media freedoms. The staff of the TV station enrolls about 35 people and it was the leading channel broadcasting in the Palestinian Authority that covers 38 percent of the West Bank.