NAZARETH, Israel -- Israel's interior ministry said it closed down an Arab newspaper in Nazareth Friday because it carried articles supporting the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The government order, effective immediately, permanently banned the Arab newspaper, El-Jamaahir (The Peoples) because it was 'expressing opinions similar to the PLO's political line,' an interior ministry spokesman said.
This is the first time in over a decade that a newspaper has been closed down in Israel. A number of Palestinian papers have been closed down in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the past year, however.
The editor of the Arab newspaper, Salem Assis, denied the government's accusations.
'I am not expressing the PLO's opinions, and I am not receiving money from the PLO directly or indirectly,' Assis said.
'I am only expressing the opinion of the national parties and organizations of my Arab people.'
Israeli authorities, citing security reasons, occasionally have temporarily closed down Palestinian institutions in the Israeli-occupied territories on suspicion of supporting the PLO.
Israel considers the PLO a terrorist organization bent on destroying the Jewish state.
Amram Kalatchi, an interior ministry official in Nazareth, said the Israeli government had warned Assis to stop publishing articles that damage Arab-Israeli relations.
He said Assis 'published news and articles in which he incited against the government and caused damage to the relationship between Jews and Arabs,' the official said.
Assis said he expressed the opinion of the national camp in Israel, including the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality headed by the New Communist Party, which is represented in Israel's parliament.
About 30 Arab language newspapers publish regularly in Israel, the majority covering commercial news.
Although circulation figures were unavailable, sources said thousands of copies of El-Jamaahir are distributed free of charge to more than 70 Arab villages throughout northern Israel.
