WAFA
Palestinian Authority state media, Fatah-aligned
Background
WAFA was established on June 5, 1972, in Beirut following a decision of the Palestinian National Council, with the explicit goal of articulating PLO positions against what it described as dominant Israeli propaganda. It operated as the PLO's official news agency through the pre-Oslo period, broadcasting from Beirut until the PLO's expulsion from Lebanon in 1982 and subsequently from Tunis. After the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, WAFA relocated its headquarters to Gaza City and became the PA's official state news service; offices were later also established in Ramallah, which became the operational center. A 2008 presidential decree by Mahmoud Abbas merged the PA Ministry of Information into WAFA, further consolidating government control over the agency. A 2011 follow-up decree formalized that the director-general and senior editorial leadership are appointed directly by the PA president, leaving no arm's-length oversight body in place. WAFA is widely regarded as aligned with Fatah, the dominant Palestinian political faction, and local journalists and press-freedom monitors consistently describe its editorial output as mirroring official PA government messaging with little room for dissent or investigative reporting. It publishes in Arabic, English, and several other languages, and its framing of the Gaza conflict — including routine use of terms like 'martyred' for Palestinian casualties and 'genocide' for Israeli military operations — reflects the PA's official political vocabulary rather than neutral wire-agency conventions.
Sources
- Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) – State Media Monitor
- Wafa – Wikipedia
- Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA) – Federation of News Agencies of the OIC
- WAFA: Palestinian News & Information Agency – About Us
- WAFA | Encyclopedia.com
Profile compiled 2026-08-21; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.