, abbreviation = WAFA , logo = wafalogo.jpg , image = , image_size = , image_alt = , image_caption = , type = News agency , products = Wire service,

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

Photos A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

, Video , formation = , founder =

Ziyad Abdel Fattah Ziyad Jamil Abdel Fattah (Arabic: زياد عبد الفتاح; born March 3, 1939) is a Palestinian politician, writer, journalist and novelist, born in Tulkarm, Palestine. He is one of the leaders of the Fatah movement, founder of the Pales ...

, key_people = Ahmad Assaf , Khuloud Assaf , area_served = Worldwide , revenue = , headquarters =

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusale ...

, West Bank , operating_income = , net_income = , num_employee = , subsid = , parent_organization = Palestinian National Authority , homepage = , footnotes = , staff = 260 ''Wafa'' ( ar, وفا, "trust", acronym from its full name in ar, وكالة الأنباء الفلسطينية ''Wikalat al-Anba al-Filastinija'' ), also known as the Palestine News Agency and the Palestinian News & Info Agency, is the news agency of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and was "the

P.L.O. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and sta ...

's news agency" in the years before the formation of the PA. ''Wafa'' provides daily news from Palestinian territories, Israel and the Middle East, and is available in English, Arabic,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Hebrew, making it a major source of information over current events for those regions. Wafa, like PNA's other media outlets, are considered to be aligned with

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

. Following a decision at the

Palestinian National Council The Palestinian National Council (PNC) ( ar, المجلس الوطني الفلسطيني, "'Almajlis Alwataniu Alfilastiniu"') is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and elects the PLO Executive Committee, which ...

's special session in Cairo in April 1972, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization announced the establishment of Wafa in Beirut on June 5, 1972. The same year

Radio Palestine Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

was also founded. While initially Wafa focused on giving official statements, its work gradually expanded to include different types of news. It began issuing ''felasteen el-thawra'' (meaning "Palestinian revolution"), a weekly magazine headed by Ahmed Abdel-Rahman. During PLO's presence in Lebanon, Wafa was frequently quoted by foreign correspondents and news agencies. According to

Kenneth R. Timmerman Kenneth R. Timmerman (born November 4, 1953) is a political writer and conservative activist who was the United States House of Representatives elections, 2012, 2012 Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee for United States House of Re ...

, writing for '' Commentary'', Wafa was instrumental in shaping the Western narrative of the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

: Following PLO's ouster from Lebanon, Wafa resumed activities in Cyprus and Tunis in November, 1982. In 1994, PLO's institutions repatriated to the Palestinian territories as a consequence of the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993;

. Palestine TV,

Voice of Palestine The Voice of Palestine ( ar, صوت فلسطين, Ṣawt Filasṭīn) is a radio station based in Ramallah. It is a subsidiary of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The station was originally k ...

, the daily ''

Al-Hayat al-Jadida ''Al-Hayat al-Jadida'' ( ar, الحياة الجديدة, translation=The New Life) is an official daily newspaper of the Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الف� ...

'', and Wafa became the primary media channels for the newly established Palestinian National Authority. Wafa opened offices in

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

and

. In April 2005,

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas ( ar, مَحْمُود عَبَّاس, Maḥmūd ʿAbbās; born 15 November 1935), also known by the kunya Abu Mazen ( ar, أَبُو مَازِن, links=no, ), is the president of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian Natio ...

transferred PNA's media assets that were under the control of the presidency to the Ministry of Information under Nabil Shaath. At the same time, he merged the General Information Commission into Wafa. Hamas won the

2006 Palestinian legislative election Legislative elections were held in the Palestinian territories on 25 January 2006 in order to elect the second Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The result was a victory for Hamas ...

and to preempt Hamas from asserting control of the media assets, Abbas transferred them back to the presidential office. In October 2005, Wafa re-launched its French service. The French service had previously operated in Tunisia until 1994. In September 2006, gunmen stormed Wafa's offices in

Khan Younis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: ''Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142,63 ...

and smashed equipment and beat up one reporter. In 2009, Wafa launched a Hebrew version of its website; the content of this service would focus on

Arab citizens of Israel The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

, many of whom identify as Palestinian. It also started mailing a daily newsletter to Israeli members of the Knesset and Hebrew media outlets. On December 10, 2018, Israeli soldiers raided Wafa's offices in Ramallah and fired tear gas into the building. The Palestinian Journalists' Union, the Palestinian foreign ministry, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the

International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the largest global union federation of journalists' trade unions in the world. It represents more than 600,000 media workers from 187 organisations in 146 countries. The IFJ is an associate ...

condemned the Israeli attack. In 2019, Wafa won the Federation of Arab News Agencies's award for best report.

Public service media

According to an UNESCO study, the Palestinian publicly-owned media has privileged access to information from the government and sometimes exclusive access to events. This perceived favoring means that private media often has to rely on reporting from Wafa or broadcasts on Palestine TV. The study therefore recommends that the PNA's media assets; Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (Voice of Palestine and Palestine TV), Wafa, and ''Al-Hayat al-Jadida'' should be transformed into independent, public service media.

Affiliations

Alliance of the Mediterranean News Agencies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

* Federation of Arab News Agencies

References

External links

Wafa website

The occupation soldiers storm the headquarters of Wafa in Ramallah (video)
{{Authority control 1972 establishments in Lebanon Arabic-language websites English-language websites Hebrew-language websites News agencies based in Palestine Multilingual websites Palestine Liberation Organization Palestinian news websites

Public service media

Affiliations

See also

References

External links