Israel shuts down Palestinian TV over "incitement"

Israeli forces raided Friday a West Bank media outlet, shutting it down and arresting its manager over allegations of "incitement," Israel's Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.

A joint force of military troops, police officers, and Shin Bet agents stormed overnight the offices of Falastin al-Youm, or "Palestine Today," a TV station that also runs an Internet channel near the city of Ramallah.

The Shin Bet accused Palestine Today of "broadcasting on behalf of the Islamic Jihad" militant group.

"The channel served the Islamic Jihad as a central tool to incite (the West Bank) population, calling for terror attacks against the State of Israel and its citizens," it said in a statement.

"Incitement was broadcast on the television station as well as the Internet," the Shin Bet charged.

Israeli forces also arrested the station chief, 34-year-old Faruk Aliat from Birzeit, north of Ramallah, who is said to be an "Islamic Jihad operative who had been imprisoned in Israel for his activities with the group."

The raid was the latest Israeli effort to silence Palestinian media which Israel accuses of "inciting" a six-month wave of almost-daily attacks. It includes mainly stabbings, but also shooting and car-ramming attacks, in the West Bank and Israel.

At least 180 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, two U.S. citizens, a Sudanese, and an Eritrean were killed in the bloodshed. Endit