, abbreviation = WAFA , logo = wafalogo.jpg , image = , image_size = , image_alt = , image_caption = , type =

News agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

, products =

Wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

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 create ...

Video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...

, formation = , founder = Ziyad Abdel Fattah , 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 Jerus ...

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, operating_income = , net_income = , num_employee = , subsid = , parent_organization =

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

, 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 A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

of the

(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 The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, and is available in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

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 Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, 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 s ...

. 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 Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

in April 1972, the

Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO EC) ( ar, اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية) is the highest executive body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and act ...

announced the establishment of Wafa in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

on June 5, 1972. The same year Radio Palestine 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, 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 Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

and

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

in November, 1982. In 1994, PLO's institutions repatriated to the

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 ...

, the daily '' Al-Hayat al-Jadida'', and Wafa became the primary media channels for the newly established

. 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 Nati ...

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 ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

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 ...

and smashed equipment and beat up one reporter. In 2009, Wafa launched a

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 An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

, 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 m ...

condemned the Israeli attack. In 2019, Wafa won the

Federation of Arab News Agencies The Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), a branch of the Arab League, is a membership organization for Arabic-language, national news agencies, currently of 18 or 19 members and established in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon. Mission FANA's missi ...

's award for best report.

Public service media

According to an

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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 The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC; ar, هيئة الإذاعة والتلفزيون الفلسطينية, Hayʾat al-ʾIḏāʿa wa-t-Tilifizyūn al-Filasṭīniyya) or Palestine Public Broadcasting Corporation ( ), also known as Pal ...

(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 * 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