Israel detains four Palestinian journalists

OCCUPIED-AL-QUDS: Israel detained four Palestinian journalists in Occupied al-Quds on Friday for several hours over "illegal activity" connected with the Palestinian Authority, a police spokesman said.

According to the Palestinian ministry of information, the four are Christine Rinawi, Dana Abu Shamsiyeh, Ameer Abed Rabbo and Ali Yassin, who work in the city for Palestinian Authority-funded Palestine TV.

Last month, Israel shut down the Occupied al-Quds office of Palestine TV, with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan accusing it of producing anti-Israel content. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Friday that "the journalists were detained in connection with illegal activity by the Palestinian Authority in Occupied al-Quds," without providing further details. The journalists were released from a central Occupied al-Quds police station on Friday afternoon, an AFP photographer said.

Abed Rabbo said the release of the four was on condition they do not work for Palestine TV for the next six months or communicate with one another for the next 15 days, on pain of fines.