RAMALLAH, May 10, 2011 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas signed Monday night a decree paves the way for transforming the Palestinian News and Information Agency, WAFA, from a state-run news agency to a public institution.

The presidential decree places WAFA, the Arabic acronyms from Wikalat Anba’ Falasteen (Palestine news agency), under the direct authority of the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and gives it the right to have its own administrative and financial laws and regulations.

WAFA Chairman Riyad Al-Hassan said the new WAFA law says the agency will have a board of directors, which will be named by the President.

He said that “this modern law allows WAFA to enter the information market to sell its services and exchange news and information with Arab and international agencies, which would put WAFA on the first step toward professional development until we have a modern and progressive Palestinian news agency capable of competing against other agencies.”

The new law allows WAFA to transmit Palestinian news to the rest of the world through the audio-visual and print media, said Hassan, in addition to turning it into a highly professional and credible national agency.

He said the law gives WAFA employees rights they had been previously denied as a result of unfair bureaucratic regulations that controlled their appointment, promotion, wages, bonuses and incentives.

WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, started operation on June 5, 1972 as the mouthpiece of the PLO. It operated in exile for 20 years before it moved to the Palestinian Territory with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.

M.A.