Palestinian Authority lifts ban on Al Jazeera

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority said Saturday it will allow Al Jazeera television to resume operations in its territory after banning the news channel from broadcasting earlier this week.

The Palestinian Authority had Wednesday banned the Qatar-based Arabic news channel and threatened legal action over allegations it broadcast against President Mahmoud Abbas.

Salam Fayyad, prime minister in Abbas's government in the occupied West Bank, said in a statement: "I have decided to revoke the suspension of the work of the bureau of Al Jazeera."

Fayyad added the Palestinian Authority would pursue legal action against the broadcaster "for its continuous incitement against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority."

The Information Ministry said Wednesday Al Jazeera had spread falsehoods and incited viewers against the authorities that run the West Bank.

The ministry said allegations carried earlier on Al Jazeera attributed to a senior figure in Abbas's Fatah party, Farouq al-Qadoumi, were untrue.

The channel quoted Qadoumi as saying Abbas conspired with Israel to kill his predecessor Yasser Arafat in 2003. Arafat died in a Paris hospital in 2004 of an undisclosed ailment.

Walid al-Omary, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories, welcomed the decision.

"This is the right decision. Media outlets should not be banned from doing their work. If they have something against us, they should go to the courts," Omary told Reuters.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Mohammed Assadi)