Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH — A senior Palestinian official Saturday said that a United Nations specialized agency will look into the Israeli refusal to grant the Palestinian Authority more transmission frequencies. Suleiman Al-Zuheiri, Deputy Telecommunication Minister, told the Voice of Palestine Radio that the “International Telecommunication Union (ITU) agreed to send a committee to investigate the reasons behind the Israeli refusal to grant more frequencies to the Palestinian Authority (PA).” Al-Zuheiri said that the “ITU's committee will also investigate the Israeli refusal to allow an independent Palestinian access to the international telecommunication network through an independent portal.” He added that no date has yet been set for the arrival of the ITU committee into Palestinian territories. The Palestinian official said that the Israeli restrictions on frequencies obstruct the work of the existed two mobile operators, Jawwal and Al-Wataniya, and makes it difficult for founding new mobile companies. The Oslo II Accords, signed in September 1995 between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, gives the Palestinians the right to direct domestic and international telephone and internet access. “Israel recognizes that the Palestinian side has the right to build and operate separate and independent communication systems and infrastructures including telecommunication networks,” the agreement II stated. The Palestinian official said that the Israeli cellular companies control 20 percent of the Palestinian market. He added that the “Israeli companies get $150 million in annual profit from the Palestinian market”, adding that “these companies does not pay taxes to the PA in exchange for that.” Al-Zuheiri said that his ministry will intensify its measures against “Israeli cellular providers which continue to sell services to Palestinians illegally, according to the Oslo II Accords and PA regulations, without any economic, social or political accountability to the PA.” He added that “Israel wants to empty the Palestinian spectrum from transmission frequencies for the favor of its settlement project.” Israel's objections begin with the issue of transmission frequencies. The frequencies that the PA wants are very close to ones used by the Israel army in some of its most sensitive activities. On September 2010, the British Daily Mail reported that the Quartet's Special Envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair took advantage of his role as peacemaker in the region to pressure Israel to allow Al-Wataniya to use cell phone frequencies it needed. The daily said that Blair, a former British prime minster, mounted an intense political lobbying campaign to save al-Wataniya mobile company, which is owned by the American investment bank JP Morgan where Blair is employed as a consultant.
