PARIS, January 24, 2007, (WAFA)-Reporters sans frontières (RSF) condemned the bombing of the Gaza City offices of the Dubai-based pan-Arab satellite TV station Al-Arabiya.

In a press release issued Wednesday, RSF said that this attack highlights the climate of violence in which journalists are working in the Palestinian territories, calling on the Palestinian Authority to thoroughly investigate such attacks.

RSF added that "In the current political tension, we urge the country's authorities not to refer to journalists as 'enemies' any more. When senior officials, especially the prime minister, stigmatize the work of journalists, this kind of attack is to be feared."

The bomb that was set off on 22 January outside the offices of Al-Arabiya, which also houses the bureau of the Saudi TV station MBC, caused considerable damage but no injuries. The bureau of the British news agency Reuters, which is located on the same floor, was slightly damaged. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Less than a week earlier, threatening phone calls were received by several of Al-Arabiya's staff in Gaza and their families. The Hamas-led government had also threatened to prosecute the station and suspend its broadcasts in the Palestinian territories if it did not formally apologise for broadcasting footage of a cabinet meeting on 15 January in which Prime Minister Haniyeh said: "No conditional aid will be accepted, not even if it comes from God." Hamas accused Al-Arabiya of broadcasting the footage out of context.

H.M (12:15 P)-(10:15 GMT)