Israeli troops raid Palestinian TV station

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad (C) is shown around the offices of a local private television station Jerusalem – Sona Al-Deak Israeli troops raided Palestinian television station Al-Watan TV in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Wednesday early morning, seizing transmission equipment, computers and documents. Director of

Al-Watan TV Muammar Orabi, said about 30 soldiers raided the TV station before dawn on Wednesday. The TV is an outlet for Palestinian citizens groups, according to  Associated Press..
Orabi said that an Israeli officer told station employees to “say hello to Khader Adnan,” the Palestinian prisoner in Israel.
Adnan is a Palestinian detainee who waged a hunger strike for more than two months to protest against being held without formal charges.
Ahmed Milhem, an employee at Al-Watan, said soldiers gave no reason for the raid, which began at 0200 a.m. (1200 GMT) and lasted for three hours.
“They seized computers, broadcast equipment and administrative files,” Milhem told Reuters by phone. ‘The station is now off the air,” he added, according to Reuters.

The television station is owned by local non-governmental organisations, broadcasts local news and cultural and political programmes on the Internet.
Secretary General of the National Palestinian Initiative party Mustafa Barghouthi , who is considered one of the fiercest of Israel\'s critics in the PA, denounced the raid, calling it \"Israeli piracy.,\" and pointing out that it violated the Oslo Accords, which officially prevent Israeli security forces from entering this area.
Ramallah is part of the Palestinian self-ruled areas, but Israeli forces still routinely conduct raids there.
Palestinian journalists said they would hold a demonstration in Ramallah’s central square later on Wednesday to protest against the raid.