Debt forces closure of Christian TV station in West Bank

Published: 2007-10-30

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (CNS) -- When the Christian television station in Beit Sahour closes, only one Christian television station will remain in the Middle East. The decision to close Al-Mahed (Nativity) TV station Nov. 1 has not been an easy one for Samir Qumsieh, a Greek Orthodox Christian from Beit Sahour who is an outspoken defender of Christian rights in the Palestinian territories. "I find myself unable to go on. It is a very sad day," he told Catholic News Service. As the end of October approached, he said he could not sleep at night trying to figure out how he would be able to pay his staff of 16. He said he has not taken a salary for himself in 11 years, since he opened the station when he returned to Beit Sahour from Kuwait after the first Iraqi war. The station's monthly running costs are $10,500. Qumsieh, who was a successful businessman in Kuwait and has depleted his own savings trying to keep the station alive, has been running it at a monthly deficit of almost $6,500 since it first began broadcasting. He has run up a personal debt of $430,000 and had to sell a piece of land to pay off the most pressing debts, he said. To keep the station running at a feasible level would cost $140,000 per year, he said.

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