The worst fears of Imad Farajin, Palestinian actor and author of political satire and TV comedy show "Watan Ala Watar" ("Country on a String"), came true  Wednesday when the Palestinian Authority’s attorney general, Ahmad Mughani, ordered Palestine TV to stop broadcasting the locally produced show.

The show, aired nightly on Palestine TV, started broadcasting on the first day of the Muslim fast month of Ramadan. After a seemingly successful first year, the authors and producers of the short show decided to go for a second season.

However, its harsh and sarcastic criticism of Palestinian officials has upset them all; some decided to sue the show and Palestine TV and others put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to pull if off the air.

After 16 episodes, the attorney general decide to take action and issued an order shutting down the show, claiming it had offensive language and insulted senior officials.

Whether that was within his authority remains to be decided, but the decision was made and Palestine TV pulled the plug on the show.

“Freedom of opinion is guaranteed in the Palestinian law,” said Farajin, who saw the decision coming. “What the attorney general did was an outrageous infringement on freedom of opinion,” he said.

Farajin said he will not take the decision lightly, but will turn it into a public issue. He said he will go to court to challenge the attorney general’s decision, which he said came without even hearing their point of view.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, the official in charge of Palestine TV, grudgingly accepted the attorney general’s decision and immediately pulled the show off the air. He also questioned the legality of Mughani’s ruling.

“We are going to challenge that decision because if it was allowed to hold, it will set a dangerous precedent that could also affect other works, and there are signs this might happen,” he said.

He expressed concern that the attorney general, who appointed himself in charge of artistic works, may take action in the future against any TV show, or play or painting, or a song or even a newspaper article.

“If the attorney general believes he now has the power to stop any artistic or creative work, we will be then facing a major catastrophe that will affect all freedoms,” said Abed Rabbo.

The attorney general defended his decision. “The 1960 criminal law (a Jordanian law) gives the attorney general the right to take proper legal action under the article that talks about slander against the authority,” said Mughani.

“We believe in freedoms and we defend it,” he added. “But this program included obscene language that touched esteemed and respected symbols of the Palestinian people.”

-- Maher Abukhater in Ramallah, West Bank

At a time when revolts in Arab nations are gradually taking their toll on the leaders of those countries, Palestinian officials seem worried that too much criticism of their performance may eventually lead them to a fate similar to their Arab brothers.

At least that's what one comedian-actor-writer believes.

Imad Faragin last year launched a political-social satirical TV show called "Watan ala Watar" ("Country on a String"). The short series, which was sponsored and aired daily on state-owned Palestine TV during last year's fast month of Ramadan, was a hit mainly because of its harsh and funny criticism of Palestinian political, social and civil society leaders and organizations.

Happy with the positive reviews he got, Faragin, the writer and main actor of the show, decided to do it again for this year's Ramadan. Following the same style, he hit hard in a comical and sarcastic manner at more or less the same officials and groups. However, this time the reaction was different.

Already, two groups have filed lawsuits against "Watan ala Watar" and Palestine TV, claiming the show has harmed their reputation. The police and the doctors groups filed the suits in Palestinian courts, demanding compensation and a stop to the show. In the show, police were portrayed as getting drunk from smelling the breath of a drunk person, and doctors were portrayed as not caring about the life of their patient.

"Officials are more tense this year than before," Faragin said. "I imagine the reason is because of the Arab Spring. They are afraid that too much criticism may lead them to the same fate as other Arab officials."

Faragin said he is worried that the negative reaction from officials may force cancellation of the show.

"I did not receive any personal threats, but there definitely was huge pressure directed mainly at me," he said. "This is proof to me that the show had an impact, and this is why officials seem concerned by its message."

He said the show reflects the feelings of the people and expresses their views on various social and political ills. He said he is not going to quit producing the show, no matter what happens. He added that he believes in freedom of expression and that if he has to go to court, he'll go alone and take with him only a camera to record the hearing.

He also said that the controversy will definitely give him material for future shows.

-- Maher Abukhater in Ramallah, West Bank

So the peace process is in a sorry state, pushing the Palestinians to seek statehood recognition from the United Nations and Israel scurrying around the world to prevent the move or at least detract from its significance.

Meanwhile, efforts to renew negotiations are still on, and both sides say they are willing, so long as they agree on a few ground rules. The latest efforts made by the Mideast Quartet -- representing Russia, the United States, European Union and United Nations -- concentrated on reaching a formula that would incorporate the principles listed by President Obama in his Middle East speech in May.

Their attempt to jump-start the talks failed, according to media reports, due to disagreement over Israel's demand that Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state. This report quoted a Western diplomat, who said the goal was to give each side something it held important. "The Palestinians were supposed to get 1967 borders with land swaps and the Israelis wanted to receive in return the recognition of Israel as the Jewish homeland," but there was no agreement on the matter, the diplomat said.

The dread digits 1-9-6-7 were in the eye of the storm in the days between the policy speeches delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Obama in the U.S. in May. Israel objects to this baseline for security reasons, arguing it is indefensible. However, "1967 borders with land swaps" also- maybe mostly-means settlements, as in which ones Israel removes and how much land it swaps in return for those it seeks to annex.  And Israel's demand for recognition as the Jewish homeland has its logic in obviating the Palestinian demand of the Right of Return, while some see this relatively new demand as another monkey wrench in the peace process machinery.

But where some see obstacles, others see opportunity.

The latest episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has Larry David in the world's best chicken place, a Palestinian restaurant named Al-Abbas, coincidentally or not calling to mind the name of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Marveling over the best chicken they've ever eaten, David and his friend have a brainstorm. "You know what? They should send this chicken over to Israel. Yeah, for the peace process. They'd take down all those settlements in the morning," they say.

Surveying the  "Freedom for Palestine" posters and figuring no Jew had or ever would set foot there, the two figure it's the perfect place for Jewish people to cheat on their spouses, as they'd never be caught in the Palestinian restaurant. Eyeing a Palestinian woman, a frequent patron, David puts the recognition-of-Israel conundrum plaguing the peace process to "good" argument. "You're always attracted to someone who doesn't want you, right? Well, here you have someone who not only doesn't want you but doesn't even acknowledge your right to exist.... That's a turn-on," he says.

(OK, so most Palestinians do recognize Israel's right to exist; it's the Jewish homeland bit they have issue with. But it's still funny.)

The episode gets better -- or worse -- depending on one's politics and sense of humor.

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem.

Video: "'Curb Your Enthusiasm' -- Palestinian Chicken Place" Season 8, Episode 3. Via YouTube.

"Everything is on the table; we just need to get to the table," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Al Arabiya TV in an exclusive interview airing Thursday evening.

According to advance excerpts from the 30-minute interview, the Israeli leader answered questions on a wide range of issues, including the peace process and regional regime changes.

It was Netanyahu's first appearance on an Arab television outlet.

Why now?...

Like U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the hot seat on YouTube's World View, and questions from around the world.

In a special broadcast paired with Israel's Channel 2 news, Netanyahu answered questions from Israelis before switching to English to answer questions from 90 countries around the world, including many throughout the Middle East.

Israelis were concerned about a host of local issues, including recent allegations that he accepted private funding for public travel (which Netanyahu dismissed as a slander campaign), and the decline in stature and caliber of Israel's political leaders, once modest -- frugal, even -- and far flashier today.  Citizens asked about Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years, about Israel's response to recent rocket attacks on its south and how approving settlement construction after the murders in Itamar would help matters.

Israel's policies, the peace process and regional upheaval were on everyone's mind. Will you negotiate returning the Golan Heights to Syria? Whose side do you take in the recent eruptions throughout the Middle East? Is Israel a strategic asset or liability to the U.S.? And why is Avigdor Lieberman the foreign minister?

Check out the video ( or view it at this link) for more questions and Netanyahu's answers.

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem.

Ahmed Shafik's short-lived spell as Egypt's Prime Minister will always be remembered with the TV talk show that played the biggest part in speeding up his imminent resignation.

As satellite television spread across the Middle East over the last decade, Egyptian officials' appearance on privately owned TV channels has been scarce as they tried to protect their images. Those who had the courage or the will to speak to independent networks always spoke with aloof demeanors and were rarely subjected to any direct criticism from their interviewers.

Nonetheless, Wednesday evening witnessed an unprecedented live program hosting Shafik among a number of political analysts and prominent Egyptian intellectuals in the presence of businessman and ONTV owner Naguib Sawiris.

The second part of the show had Shafik receiving questions from author Alaa Al Aswany and TV broadcaster Hamdi Kandil, who dared to ask the prime minister why he doesn’t heed the call of millions of Egyptians and quit his post.

"How do you stay on as a prime minister and accept it even when you know that the majority of Egyptians want you out," Kandil said looking straight into Shafik's eyes without getting any clear response.

The debate reached its peak when Aswany harshly told Shafik that his main priority should be providing security to Egyptians, as well as speeding up the interrogations against those responsible for the death of those who died during the revolution.

Shafik responded by saying that he suggested refurbishing Tahrir Square and having it as a venue for any activists voicing their revolutionary demands. The novelist wasn’t impressed by the answer and repeated his question and it was then that Shafik told Aswany to "stop putting [on] the face of a patriot."

A brief moment of yelling occurred between the pair, in what can be considered as the first form of live TV democracy-style debate Egypt has ever witnessed. Despite previously reiterating that Shafik will keep his position for at least few more weeks, the ruling Supreme Military Council announced on Thursday morning that Shafik's resignation has been accepted.

Egyptian news website Al Destour al Asly reported that in an attempt to improve his image among Egyptians, it was Shafik himself who asked to appear on ONTV but obviously his appearance backfired and only shortened his tenure as head of the cabinet.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik. Credit: Associated Press

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday slammed Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi for what he described as "unimaginable repression" against the Libyan people.

"It is unimaginable that someone is killing his citizens, bombarding his citizens," Ahmadinejad said in an interview broadcast on state television. "How can officers be ordered to use bullets from machine guns, tanks and guns against their own citizens?"

"This is unacceptable. Let the people speak, be free, decide to express their will," he added. "Do not resist the will of the people."

Ahmadinejad has been widely criticized for his government's violent crackdown on protesters following the disputed 2009 presidential elections in Iran.

The president's words followed midnight raids Monday and Tuesday on several apartment buildings in the Qods township in western Tehran, considered a bastion of the opposition. The raids were aimed at collecting banned television satellite dishes, sources in Tehran told Babylon & Beyond. Authorities have repeatedly blamed foreign and opposition media beamed into Iran via satellite for fomenting unrest against the government.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

AFP contributed to this report.

Photo: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Libya for its violent crackdown on protesters. Credit: Fars News Agency

American diplomats appeared pleased with Saudi Arabia's new strategy to control editors and journalists, according to a secret State Department dispatch disclosed this week by the watchdog site WikiLeaks that offered a rare peak into the shadowy mechanisms of censorship in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

The May 11, 2009, diplomatic cable titled "Ideological and Ownership Trends in the Saudi Media" noted approvingly that the government seemed to be opening up to a certain amount of foreign cultural influence in the form of Hollywood movies and television shows while cracking down on Islamist messages deemed too extreme even for the state-approved brand of fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam.

But despite the author of the report's apparent hope that shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Late Night With David Letterman" would serve as an antidote to some of the more conservative trends in the country, the document makes clear that the government has no intention of ceding control over the message, just tweaking it a little.

Saudi regulatory bodies, which are beholden to the royal family, have evolved to thrive in a dynamic new media environment, switching to a more subtly coercive and decentralized approach. "Instead of being fired or seeing their publications shut down, editors now are fined [$10,600] out of their own salaries for each objectionable piece that appears in their newspaper," the cable read. "Journalists, too, are held to account."

Will a television miniseries about the history of Egypt's biggest political opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, undermine or promote the group's image in the eyes of millions of viewers in the Arab world?

Named "Al Gama'a" or "The Group" and written by prominent scriptwriter Wahid Hamed, the prime-time serial has been airing every night on state-owned and private satellite television channels throughout the holy month of Ramadan, when television viewing and advertisement rates reach their annual peak.

"Al Gama'a" traces the movement from its founding by spiritual leader Hassan Banna in 1928 as an anti-British and anti-colonialist political group through the various phases it has gone through to become a powerful political, social and religious phenomenon, influencing people in various countries across the Middle East.

Opposition activists linked to Iran's "green movement" have launched a new satellite TV channel, RASA TV, from Belgium as an alternative news source for discontented Iranians at home and abroad.

Ebrahim Nabavi, one of the channel's organizers, is a well-known satirist and former political prisoner currently living in Europe. He told Radio Free Europe that the aim of the channel, which is also available online, is to break the government's monopoly on the flow of information.

"During the last year, Iran's state TV never broadcast any [objective] news about the green movement, and what it did broadcast was lies," Nabavi said. "Censorship and distortion of the news in Iran led us to establish a new media to collect news from inside Iran and then broadcast it back into the country again."

Forget "wardrobe malfunctions" like the infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime mishap that concerned federal regulators. Celebrities in Iran have bigger things to worry about, like getting blacklisted from the little screen by the government just as the big Ramadan television season gets underway.

The moderate daily newspaper Mardom Salari printed a list of singers, poets, actors and other celebrities it claims have been banned from appearing on television for supporting the political opposition known as the "green movement."

In the past, cultural authorities have denied the existence of such a list, but the report includes the names of many high-profile figures.

The fierce competition between TV channels in Egypt to win audiences and advertising money during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan bombards Muslims with soap operas and historical dramas that distract them from performing their religious traditions.

Ramadan began Wednesday as Egyptian TV and independent satellite channels began showing 48 new soap operas and nearly the same number of other programs produced specially for the holy month.

Statistics from the Pan Arab Research Center (PARC) show that Ramadan is the advertising high season in Egypt, with $146 million spent during the holy month last year, a remarkable 62% increase over any other time of the year. Millions of Egyptians watch soap operas after breaking their fast after sunset and before beginning it again after morning prayers.