Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV condemned for 'pro-Israel' Nakba documentary

Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV has been condemned by Palestinian activists after airing a documentary on the Nakba - following the creation of Israel in 1948 - seen as aligned to Israel's narrative.

"Without regard for professional standards and with full bias in favour of the unjust (Israeli) occupation, al-Arabiya has aired a documentary on the creation of the Zionist entity [Israel] that ignored all historical facts," said the Palestinian Centre for Resistance Against Normalisation in an official statement Monday. 

"We condemn in the strongest terms this scandalous journalistic catastrophe, which comes in the context of a move towards normalisation... and promoting a false narrative about the creation" of Israel, it added.

Al-Arabiya aired a two-part documentary on the establishment of the state of Israel from both the Arab and Israeli perspectives.

It was scripted to be free of "ideology or partisanship" as the network put it.

The Nakba or "The Catastrophe", which took place 70 years ago in 1948, marks the displacement of nearly 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their homes during the violent birth of the state of Israel.

Palestinians commemorate it as their national catastrophe and insist on their right to return to their homes in modern-day Israel, while Israelis celebrate it as the foundation of their homeland in historic Palestine.

Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations, but in the past two years reports have emerged of covert meetings between Israeli and Saudi officials.

Analsys say this gives an impression of a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia against common foes like Iran, while the Saudi media has been openly encouraging relations between the two countries.