WORLD : Palestine News Service Reopens

JERUSALEM — The Palestine Press Service, an Arab-run news agency that played a key role in reporting the start of the Palestinian uprising, was allowed to reopen today after a two-year closure.

Ibrahim Karaeen, co-owner of the agency, said police returned the key Wednesday and that the telephones began working today.

“I hope this means that (Israeli authorities) will realize that we can make peace only by letting the other side talk and not stifling us,” he said.

The agency was founded in 1977 by Karaeen and Raymonda Tawil, now a Washington-based journalist, and was long the main source of news about Palestinian causes for both the Israeli media and the foreign press.

Karaeen said army officials told him that the office had been closed because authorities believed it had received funding from the PLO. He denied the accusation, contending that the real issue is the agency’s ability to report violence and unrest more quickly than the army.