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Communications in the State of Palestine

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Ooredoo Palestine advertisement board in Surda

Communications in the State of Palestine lags behind the world, though it still has telephone, radio, television, and internet.[1] The communications sector in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip faces many obstacles, such as the Oslo Accords that were signed with the Israeli authorities, which prevented the use of spectrum frequencies for the wireless communications sector except with the approval of the Israeli side, and other obstacles, all of which led to the prevention of bringing modern technology to Palestine. After an effort, Palestine obtained third generation wireless communications frequencies or 3G. The Oslo Accords signed with the Israeli side are not the only ones that control the telecommunications sector in Palestine. There are many other matters that control this sector, such as the Palestinian Telecommunications Law and international agreements in this regard. The table shows the extent of Palestine’s lag behind neighboring countries due to the Oslo Accords, the impact of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian territories, and many obstacles to obtaining technology from countries around the world and their control over Palestine’s spectrum frequencies.

Internet and Telephone

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Main article: Telephone numbers in the Palestinian territories

There are several palestinian internet and telephone companies, major ones are:

  • Paltel, a subsidiary of Paltel Group, provides telephone and internet services.[2][3]
  • Mada Al-Arab or mada.ps provides internet services.[4][3]
  • Hadara or my.hadara.ps provides internet services, their website went down after 7th of October.
  • Coolnet or coolnet.ps provides internet services.[5]
  • Fusion or fusion.ps provides internet services, same as hadara, their website went down after 7th of October.
  • AjyalFi or AjyalFi.ps provides internet services, also their website went down after 7th of October.

Mobile

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The Israeli Ministry of Communications has control over the cellular communications and technology Palestinians may build, which has been limited to 2G.[6] Israeli bombardment, electricity blockades and fuel shortages have caused the near-total collapse of Gaza’s largest cell network providers.[7] There are two mobile operators in the Palestinian territories: Jawwal with 2.9m customers,[8] and Ooredoo with 1.4m customers[9].

Radio

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There are tens of licensed FM stations broadcasting in the Palestinian territories including but not limited to:

  • Ajyal network only has 8 stations by itself - www.arn.ps/radios
  • Raya - www.raya.fm

On October 1, 1999, the International Telecommunication Union assigned the call block E4A through E4Z to Palestine. Aircraft tail numbers, amateur radio stations, vessels at sea and other radio facilities licensed by the Palestinian Authority will carry call signs beginning with "E4."

Censorship

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In 2008 opennet stated "Access to Internet in the Palestinian territories remains relatively open, although social filtering of sexually explicit content has been implemented in Gaza. Internet in the West Bank remains almost entirely unfiltered, save for a single news Web site that was banned for roughly six months starting in late 2008. Media freedom is constrained in Gaza and the West Bank by the political upheaval and internal conflict as well as by the Israeli forces."[10]

On 23 April 2012, EFF published a list of websites censored by some Palestinian ISPs.[11] That same day, the Tor Project announced that they are witnessing politically motivated censorship in Bethlehem.[12]

In May 2012, the Ma'an news agency stated "The Palestinian Authority has quietly instructed Internet providers to block access to news websites whose reporting is critical of President Mahmoud Abbas."[13]

Mail

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Main article: Palestine Post

Palestine Post is responsible for providing postal service in West Bank, while the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology of the State of Palestine is responsible for postal service in the Gaza Strip. Generally, international letters addressed to West Bank are routed through both Jordan and Israel and the international letters addressed to Gaza are routed through only Israel. Delays often happen during sending and receiving letters from Palestine. Without these two national postal authorities, no international courier service would be serving the areas.[citation needed]

2023 Israel–Gaza war

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See also: Gaza humanitarian crisis (2023–present) § Communications

During the 2023 Israel–Gaza war, telecommunications company Paltel kept its networks online for most of the first six weeks. The company has a network operations center in Ramallah, West Bank. As of 2023, Paltel has 750 staff in Gaza, and they perform maintenance tasks such as repairing and refueling generators when an outage is detected. Five Paltel staff have been killed in the conflict. Paltel networks are essential for coordinating emergency services and humanitarian aid, and for documenting conditions inside Gaza.[14]

In response to previous wars in Gaza, Paltel has made preparations and has many contingencies to help keep its networks online. It buries its cables very deep (up to 26 feet), and has multiple power sources available such as batteries, solar panels, and generators. Ultimately, Paltel is reliant on Israel, because its two main fiber optic cables pass through Israel. Israel has turned off telecommunications by interfering with these cables twice before.[14]

On November 3, 2023, the BBC World Service launched an emergency radio service for Gaza,[15] broadcasting on long-range AM from the British East Mediterranean Relay Station, to "provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies".[16]

On November 16, 2023, due to fuel shortages, Internet and telephone services went down in Gaza. This also resulted in a suspension of humanitarian aid convoys because humanitarian agencies could not communicate.[17] On November 18, services were partially restored, after some fuel was allowed in and allocated to telecommunications.[18] On November 21, an Israeli strike against a telecommunications tower in North Gaza led to a telecommunications blackout in that area.[19]

An organisation called Connecting Humanity provides internet access to people in Gaza using donated eSIMs, allowing them to connect to networks outside of Gaza.[20][21][22] By December 2023 200,000 people living in Gaza (around 10% of the population) had received internet access through an eSIM.[23][24][25]

See also

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References

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  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.
  1. ^ "Telecommunication Sector Note in the Palestinian Territories: Missed Opportunity for Economic Development - World Bank report". Question of Palestine. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  2. ^ "...:: Paltel Group ::..." www.paltelgroup.ps. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  3. ^ a b "Palestine unplugged: how Israel disrupts Gaza's internet". Access Now. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  4. ^ "مدى | إكتشف مدى". mada.ps. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  5. ^ "Coolnet". coolnet.ps. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  6. ^ "Why Gaza keeps losing communications". Washington Post. 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  7. ^ Aly, Rasha (2023-12-17). "Palestinians in Gaza using eSim cards to get around communications blackout". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  8. ^ Blogger, Guest (2016-12-19). "Palestinian mobile network operator Jawwal signs the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter". Mobile for Development. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  9. ^ "Financial Information 2024 | Ooredoo Palestine". Ooredoo. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  10. ^ "ONI Country Profile: Gaza and the West Bank", OpenNet Initiative, 10 August 2009
  11. ^ "Palestinian Authority Found to Block Critical News Sites". 23 April 2012.
  12. ^ "Politically motivated censorship in Bethlehem, Palestine | Tor Blog".
  13. ^ "Palestinian media clampdown spreads to the Web | Maan News Agency". Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  14. ^ a b "Keeping Gaza online: Telecom heroes risk life and limb under Israel's bombs". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  15. ^ Potter, Simon (2023-11-03). "BBC's emergency Gaza radio broadcasts show why World Service mustn't rely on digital technology". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  16. ^ "BBC World Service announces Emergency Radio Service for Gaza". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  17. ^ "Under a communication blackout, Gaza's 2.3 million people are cut off from each other and the world". AP News. 2023-11-16. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  18. ^ "Telecom service partially restored in Gaza after limited fuel entry". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  19. ^ "Photos: Intense Israeli air strikes hit Gaza amid growing signs of truce". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  20. ^ Vo, Lam Thuy (2023-11-07). "'Let Me Tell Them Goodbye Before They Get Killed': How eSIM Cards Are Connecting Palestinian Families – The Markup". themarkup.org. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  21. ^ "Gazans had no cell service. An effort led from Egypt helped reconnect them". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "This activist is helping Palestinians get back online in Gaza when connection is lost under Israeli attack". CNN. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  23. ^ Aly, Rasha (2023-12-17). "Palestinians in Gaza using eSim cards to get around communications blackout". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  24. ^ "When Gaza lost telephone and internet connection, this activist found a way to get Palestinians back online". The Mercury News. 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  25. ^ Elassar, Alaa; Tucker, Emma (2023-12-03). "When Gaza lost phone and internet under Israeli attack, this activist found a way to get Palestinians back online". CNN. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
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