DPA

Ramallah, Jul 20: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has decided to lift its ban preventing the al-Jazeera satellite channel from working in the West Bank, but at the same time said it would go ahead with planned legal measures against the Qatari-based broadcaster.

"The decision to reopen the pan-Arab channel's offices in the West Bank was motivated by the Palestinian Authority's interest in the freedom of the press," a statement issued Sunday by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's office in Ramallah said.

But, the statement added, hat the PA would not halt the legal procedures against al-Jazeera "for its incitement against the PA and the Palestinian Liberation Organization".

The PA shut the Ramallah office of al-Jazeera last Wednesday, amid a storm over allegations that that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas conspired with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to assassinate late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The allegations were made in an al-Jazeera report on a news conference given by Farouq al-Qaddoumi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, during which he produced what he said was a transcript of a meeting between Abbas, Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan and Sharon in which they allegedly discussed killing Arafat.

The PA and the PLO furiously accused al-Qaddoumi of lying.