Palestinian TV goes on the air<\/p>\n
By Khalad Ammar<\/p>\n
JERICHO, West Bank, (Reuter): Palestinians took to the
\nairwaves for the first time, flying the national flag on
\ntelevision from the lowest point on earth.<\/p>\n
Viewers in the self-rule area of Jericho, who tuned to channel
\n13 from 3 p.m. last Monday, saw a test chart bearing the national
\ncolors and the words Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)
\nin English and Arabic. They heard Palestinian folk music.<\/p>\n
"This is the first television station in the world that
\nbroadcasts from such a low point on earth," said Salem Abu Saleh,
\na PBC official. Jericho is near the lowest point on earth, nearly
\n400 metres (1300 feet) below sea level.<\/p>\n
The corporation said its broadcasts could be seen within 14
\nkilometers (nine miles) of TV headquarters at the Hisham Palace
\nHotel in Jericho, the West Bank town where last month the PLO
\ntook over control from Israel under their peace deal.<\/p>\n
Abu Saleh said there were plans to broadcast live street
\ninterviews with Palestinians in Jericho once the necessary
\nequipment arrived from storage houses in Gaza and Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Radwan Abu Ayyash, the PBC chairman, said he hoped
\ntransmissions would soon reach all of the nearly two million
\nPalestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
"We start from Jericho but we will soon reach Bethlehem,
\nRamallah, the Arab areas of Jerusalem and eventually up to
\nNablus," Abu Ayyash told Reuters.<\/p>\n
He said Palestinian radio would start broadcasting between four
\nand eight hours a day within two weeks in Jericho and in Gaza
\nwhere self-rule was also launched last month.<\/p>\n
Israel had impounded equipment donated by Germany in customs
\nbut Abu Ayyash said it had now been released.<\/p>\n
PBC officials said the test was made from a temporary mobile
\ntransmission station because the Palestinian self-rule authority
\nhad yet to receive equipment promised by donors.<\/p>\n
"The total cost of our final projects is US$55 million but the
\nonly thing we have received so far is a German studio and the
\npromise of an outside broadcasting center from France," Abu
\nAyyash said.<\/p>\n
Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza receive radio and
\ntelevision transmissions from neighboring Arab countries. Israel
\nalso has extensive Arabic-language programming.<\/p>\n
Broadcast operations were provided for in the Palestine
\nLiberation Organization's self-rule agreements with Israel.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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