Fayyad lifts bar on al-Jazeera operations, keeps trial

RAMALLAH, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday called off his decision to ban al-Jazeera satellite channel from working in the Palestinian territories but kept suing procedures against the Qatari news channel.

In a statement sent to the media, Fayyad, on his capacity as information minister, said the decision to reopen the pan-Arab channel's offices in the West Bank "was motivated by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s interest in the freedom of media and press work."

"The PNA will not stop the legal procedures to prosecute al-Jazeera for its incitement against the PNA and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)," the statement added.

The decision to bar al-Jazeera was taken on Wednesday, one day after the channel aired an interview with an exiled Fatah official where he accused President Mahmoud Abbas and other Fatah leaders of conspiring with Israel to kill late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Fayyad's decision sparked reactions from local and international rights groups that called on the Western-backed prime minister to drop his decision.

Arafat died 2004 in a French hospital and the circumstances over his death remained undisclosed.

Al-Jazeera's local journalists said they resumed operations from the main bureau in the West Bank city of Ramallah.