Fire at Palestinian TV and Radio HQ

A huge fire devoured the upper floors of the Palestinian General Authority for Radio and Television headquarters in Ramallah City in the early hours of Wednesday morning. There are no reported casualties and civil defense fire crews quickly extinguished the fire. Witnesses told Arabstoday that the fire broke out in the top three floors of the building. The cause of the fire is unknown although it was confirmed to Arabtoday that the Palestinian security services have opened an investigation to discover the source. Palestinian TV is still broadcasting normally as the fire did not damage the channel’s broadcasting capabilities as the top floors were not suitable to work in before the fire due to detonation by the Israeli occupation on January 19 2002. The explosion destroyed the equipment on the upper stories totally millions of dollars in damage. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas designated the director of the Palestinian news agency (WAFA) Riad al-Hassan to manage the General Authority for Radio and Television after the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Yasser Abed Rabbo, resigned from the position two months ago.