The station in question "RAM FM", named for its location Rammalah, the
headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, was not shut down. RAM FM is
a typical pirate radio station, licensed in one country but aimed
totally at another.

The station has "fair" news, i.e. slanted twoard the Palestinian point
of view and ignoring anything that would upset their hosts. However it
has Israeli weather, Israeli traffic reports, etc.

The station broadcasts in English, which is a required subject in
Israeli non relgious schools, but not generally taught or understood in
the P.A. No Arabic, or for that matter Hebrew music is broadcast.

Since the station is licensed in the P.A., Israel has no Jurisdiction
over it and both the government and most Israelis ignore it.

The signal was beamed twoard the Tel Aviv area, reception was impossible
in Jerusalem. Since to be quite frank, Israelis will not travel to
Rammalah for fear of their lives, their studios were in Jerusalem. They
added a second transmitter at those studios in Jerusalem to increase
coverage.

This transmitter was operating within Israel without an Israeli, or for
that matter, any license and was interfering with with another station
on the same frequency. It was also claimed to be interfereing with the
air traffic control frequencies at Ben Gurion airport.

This is the station that was closed down, an illegal operation that was
interfering with licensed broadcasters and services.

A similar pirate operation, Radio West, operating in a Jewish community
in the west bank, was closed down years ago.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM