Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA)
The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) serves as the official news service of the Palestinian Authority and stands as one of its primary public communication arms. With roots tracing back to 1972, WAFA predates the formal establishment of the Palestinian Authority and was originally launched as a news service of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Following the Oslo Accords and the formation of the PA in the mid‑1990s, WAFA was restructured under PA control.
WAFA publishes content in Arabic, English, French, and Hebrew, aiming to disseminate the Palestinian Authority’s narratives both locally and internationally. Its multilingual approach is designed to reach diverse audiences, including global media, diplomatic circles, and the Israeli public.
Media assets
News agency: WAFA
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
WAFA traces its origins to 1972, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) established the agency with the explicit aim of countering what it described as the “dominant Israeli propaganda.” At its inception, WAFA was conceived as a political communication tool to articulate the PLO’s viewpoint on regional and international stages.
In 2008, a significant structural change was enacted by Presidential Decree, when President Mahmoud Abbas merged the then Ministry of Information with the Palestinian News Agency, creating the modern-day Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA). This move centralized media functions under one umbrella, firmly embedding WAFA within the institutional framework of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
A follow-up decree issued in 2011 stipulated that WAFA’s leadership—including its director-general and editorial heads—is appointed directly by the PA. To date, no evidence has surfaced of any independent board, public vetting process, or pluralistic governance mechanism being established.
As of June 2025, Ahmad Assaf serves as WAFA’s Chairman, and Khuloud Assaf is Editor‑in‑Chief, overseeing its multilingual operations.
Source of funding and budget
As of June 2025, no official financial documentation has been published regarding WAFA’s funding structure. However, according to multiple journalists and local media experts interviewed between December 2023 and April 2024, WAFA is financed through a line item within the general budget of the Palestinian Authority.
Although the agency’s funding is public in principle, neither audited accounts nor annual reports specific to WAFA have been disclosed, making its budgetary size, staff costs, and operational expenditures opaque to public scrutiny.
As the Gaza conflict intensified in early 2025, WAFA’s offices—including its Ramallah headquarters—have faced occasional security pressures, such as tear-gassing during military raids in 2018 referenced in background sources.
Editorial independence
WAFA functions as the official voice of the Palestinian Authority, and its editorial content closely mirrors the PA’s political agenda. Local journalists familiar with the agency describe its editorial stance as consistently aligned with government messaging, with little space for dissenting views or investigative journalism.
Despite its significant role in shaping public discourse, WAFA is not governed by any statute that guarantees editorial independence, nor does it fall under the purview of an independent media oversight body. As such, the agency remains structurally and editorially vulnerable to political influence, with no formal safeguards in place to ensure journalistic autonomy or impartiality.
July 2025