Sources inform ''Globes'' that the new English language Palestinian daily, The "Palestine Times" will be available in Israel from Sunday, after it was given the go-ahead from the Ministry of the Interior.
The new paper is the first English-language publication to be published in the Palestinian Authority (PA). Editor-in-chief Othman Fakhri Mohammed said, "I believe that it is essential that Israeli society, and the world at large, are exposed to the true image of the Palestinians as a peace-seeking and life-loving society."
The new paper's publishers are the Othman family, one of the richest families in Ramallah, with business interests in telecommunications and cellular companies in the West Bank and overseas. Employing a 70-strong team of editors and reporters, the paper has editorial offices in Ramallah and Jerusalem and is set to open a third in Gaza.
The "Palestine Times" reported that yesterday it signed a distribution agreement with Israeli marketing company Bar Group, owned by Boaz Dekel and Ido Bergman. Bar distributes, among others, "Yediot Ahronot," "Globes" and other titles. Bar Group believes the paper could reach a circulation of 10,000 copies of within a year, with customers including, embassies, politicians, government officials, as well as business entities with business ties with the PA, tourists and local Israelis.
The "Palestine Times" has 12 pages of news coverage of events in the Palestinian Authority. "The aim is to establish an independent title that looks at the quality of life in the PA. The "Palestine Times" aims to give a platform on which to highlight the human fabric of life in Palestinian society," said Fakhri Mohammed. He added that the paper intended to hire full-time Israeli staff with a view to creating a paper that will reflect life on the other side and give Israelis a real and objective view of the Palestinian people.
The "Palestine Times" will be available from Sunday at hotels, bookstores, train stations and the duty free stores at Ben Gurion Airport.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 14, 2007
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