[wvns] Al-Jazeera Wadah Khanfar affair
The Wadah Khanfar affair
26 June 2007
http://foray.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/news-round-up-the-wadah-khanfar-affair/
Wadah Khanfar - who has been dropped from the al-Jazeera board of
directors - remains in the position of `Director General of
al-Jazeera'. That, at least, is the title the Qatari press continue to
give him. Khanfar put in an appearance yesterday on behalf of the
channel at a ceremony to underwrite closer cooperation with Qatar
University.
Egyptian online daily al-Mesryoon claims there is discontent and
confusion among al-Jazeera staff since the new General Manager Ahmad
al-Kholeifi has assumed many of the responsibilities previously held
by Khanfar. It says the management reshuffle has favoured the
US-friendly `liberal' faction at the channel. (Some commentators have
identified three competing ideologies within al-Jazeera: the Arabist,
Islamic and liberal factions)
Nuri Yalcin cites a former al-Jazeera employee saying: "There will
definitely be policy changes: Fewer veiled women employees and fewer
Bin Laden tapes, for example."
The following is an article that appeared in the Jordanian weekly
al-Majd from 4 June (The original Arabic article is here) as
translated by BBC Monitoring:
Khanfar's removal from al-Jazeera board of directors preliminary step
towards removal as director general
Media quarters in Qatar were surprised by the decision to remove
Director General of al-Jazeera network Waddah Khanfar, from its board
of directors. Media sources considered this step "illogical," because
Khanfar is the director general of all al-Jazeera satellite television
channels, including the Arabic news channel, the international news
channel, the documentary channel, the sports channel, and the
children's channel, as well as the aljazeera.net electronic website,
its training and research centres, and its international printed
newspaper, which is expected to be issued soon.
Khanfar's removal came into effect in pursuance of an amiri decision
that was issued by Heir Apparent Shaykh Tamim Bin-Hamad Al Thani and
according to which a new board of directors was announced. There have
been some changes in the new board of directors, which now comprises
all-Qatari members except for Mahmud Shammam (a Libyan). It was also
eye-catching that Ms Maryam Rashid Yusuf al-Khatir became the first
woman to join the al-Jazeera board of directors.
Well-informed media sources hold the view that "the removal of Khanfar
from the al-Jazeera board of directors was the first step towards
removing him from his position as director general of the network."
They said that "his removal came in response to outside US and
Palestinian pressure." They explained that "the Americans and the
Palestinians accused Khanfar of empathizing with the Muslim
Brotherhood in general and with the Palestinian Hamas Movement in
particular."
The sources noted that "an official close to Palestinian President
Mahmud Abbas visited Doha recently and handed Qatari officials a
security dossier on Waddah Khanfar." They said that "an Arab
intelligence service delivered to Qatar a similar dossier that proves
Khanfar's association with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas."
The same sources said that "the amiri decision was issued following a
media campaign that Qatari newspapers waged against Khanfar a few
months ago." They added that "Qatari newspapers accused Khanfar of
excluding Qataris from key posts in al-Jazeera."
The sources said that "Qatari Amir Shaykh Hamad Bin-Khalifah Al Thani
had long been the umbrella under which Khanfar continued to occupy his
post over the past period."
They added that "however, the Qatari amir has been under constant
pressure, which he could no longer tolerate. As a result, he
instructed his son, Heir Apparent Shaykh Tamim Bin-Hamad Al Thani, to
issue in his absence an amiri decision to form a new board of
directors. The duration of term for the new board was amended from one
to three years."
The new board of directors was formed under the chairmanship of Shaykh
Hamad Bin-Thamir Al Thani and with the membership of Ahmad Abdallah
al-Khulayfi, Hamad Bin-Abd-al-Aziz al-Kawari, Abdallah Mubarak
al-Khulayfi, Mahmud Shammam, Abd-al-Aziz Ibrahim Al Mahmud, and Maryam
Rashid Yusuf al-Khatir. It is worth noting that Abd-al-Aziz Al Mahmud,
whom Waddah Khanfar had previously removed from his post as
al-Jazeera.net (al-Jazeera website) chief editor, was appointed as a
member of the new board of directors.
The sources said that they "have noticed some changes in al-Jazeera
news coverage. This was clearly manifest in its coverage of the recent
clashes between Fatah and Hamas." They said that "Al-Jazeera was
relatively biased towards Fatah. It hosted persons who belong to Fatah
or who are considered Fatah proteges and gave them the opportunity to
criticize Hamas." They added that "it was also noticed that al-Jazeera
has absented a number of Hamas leaders, such as former Palestinian
Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahhar, member of the Hamas Political
Bureau Muhammad Nazzal, and Hamas spokesperson in Gaza Sami
Abu-Zuhri." The sources attributed the absence of these names to
"their hardline criticism of a number of Fatah leaders."
British rebel MP George Galloway also alluded to the events at
al-Jazeera in a Guardian opinion piece, saying:
"A recent reshuffle has brought outspokenly pro-US directors on to the
board, including a former Qatari ambassador to Washington… but these
moves have already backfired and caused huge controversy not only in
Qatar but throughout the Middle East, and there is every chance that
what is in effect an attempted coup at the station will be reversed".
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