What does WAFA stand for? 

Wafa

Wafa (Arabic: وفا, "trust", acronym from its full name in Arabic: وكالة الأنباء الفلسطينية Wikalat al-Anba al-Filastinija transl. Palestine News Agency), also known as the Palestine News Agency and the Palestinian News & Info Agency, is the news agency of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and was "the P.L.O.'s news agency" in the years before the formation of the PA.Wafa provides daily news from Palestinian territories, Israel and the Middle East, and is available in English, Arabic, French and Hebrew, making it a major source of information over current events for those regions. Wafa, like PNA's other media outlets, are considered to be aligned with Fatah.Following a decision at the Palestinian National Council's special session in Cairo in April 1972, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization announced the establishment of Wafa in Beirut on June 5, 1972. The same year Radio Palestine was also founded. While initially Wafa focused on giving official statements, its work gradually expanded to include different types of news. It began issuing felasteen el-thawra (meaning "Palestinian revolution"), a weekly magazine headed by Ahmed Abdel-Rahman.During PLO's presence in Lebanon, Wafa was frequently quoted by foreign correspondents and news agencies. According to Kenneth R. Timmerman, writing for Commentary, Wafa was instrumental in shaping the Western narrative of the 1982 Lebanon War: The information supplied by WAFA on the number of victims and their category - civilian or military - provided the basis for the dispatches leaving West Beirut, in the absence of other sources. The "Lebanese police" so often quoted in this context had ceased to function in West Beirut early in the siege. With deadlines to meet and under the risk of falling bombs, most journalists were content with what they got. This, then, was one source of the wild exaggeration in the figures of civilian dead reported throughout the war and especially during the siege of Beirut. ... First there was the press pass issued by WAFA with the bearer's photograph, a duplicate of which remained in WAFA's offices. Without this pass, no journalist could hope to circulate in West Beirut; caught photographing, or taking notes, he would be immediately arrested if not shot on sight. Following PLO's ouster from Lebanon, Wafa resumed activities in Cyprus and Tunis in November, 1982.In 1994, PLO's institutions repatriated to the Palestinian territories as a consequence of the Oslo Accords. Palestine TV, Voice of Palestine, the daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida, and Wafa became the primary media channels for the newly established Palestinian National Authority. Wafa opened offices in Gaza City and Ramallah. In April 2005, Mahmoud Abbas transferred PNA's media assets that were under the control of the presidency to the Ministry of Information under Nabil Shaath. At the same time, he merged the General Information Commission into Wafa. Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and to preempt Hamas from asserting control of the media assets, Abbas transferred them back to the presidential office.In October 2005, Wafa re-launched its French service. The French service had previously operated in Tunisia until 1994.In September 2006, gunmen stormed Wafa's offices in Khan Younis and smashed equipment and beat up one reporter.In 2009, Wafa launched a Hebrew version of its website; the content of this service would focus on Arab citizens of Israel, many of whom identify as Palestinian. It also started mailing a daily newsletter to Israeli members of the Knesset and Hebrew media outlets.On December 10, 2018, Israeli soldiers raided Wafa's offices in Ramallah and fired tear gas into the building. The Palestinian Journalists' Union, the Palestinian foreign ministry, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the International Federation of Journalists condemned the Israeli attack.In 2019, Wafa won the Federation of Arab News Agencies's award for best report.

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