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A Palestinian Authority court in Ramallah has issued an order to block 59 websites deemed critical of the PA and its leaders.The court order, which was issued on October 17 by the Ramallah Magistrates Court at the request of the PA Attorney General, claims that the websites have violated the PA’s controversial Cyber Crime Law, introduced by PA President Mahmoud Abbas on June 24, 2017.The court said it found that the websites have published articles and photos that “threaten national security and civic peace.”The court accepted the PA Attorney General’s argument that the websites have attacked and offended “symbols of the Palestinian Authority.”Most of the websites targeted by the PA are affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official and archival of Abbas . Some of the websites are known for their criticism of financial and administrative corruption of the PA and its senior officials.The PA’s Cyber Crime Law states that “any person who has intentionally and unlawfully accessed any electronic system or network, has abused any information technology, or has exceeded the authorized entry shall be liable to either imprisonment or a fine. If the act is committed against any official statement by the [PA] government, the culprit shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of at least six months.”The law, which has been condemned by Palestinian journalists and human rights activists, also states that any person who creates a website or who publishes information on the Internet that would “endanger the integrity of the Palestinian state, the public order or the internal or external security of the state,” shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of at least one year.Hamas said in response that the PA is “burying its head in the sand” by attempting to prevent freedom of expression.Hamas spokesperson Husam Badran said that the order will “take the Palestinian media back to the dark era.” He accused the PA of being in collusion with Israel in the war on the Palestinian “national voice.”The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also condemned the decision to block dozens of websites, dubbing it a “massacre” against freedom of expression and Palestinian media outlets.“This is a black day in the history of the Palestinian media,” the syndicate said in a statement, noting that it had previously voiced opposition to the Cyber Crime Law.