Al Jazeera November 1996. It offered 6 hours of programming per day; increased to 12 hours by the end of 1997. It was broadcast to the immediate neighborhood as a terrestrial signal, and on cable, as well as through satellites (which was also free to users in the Arab world), although Qatar, and many other Arab countries, barred private individuals from having satellite dishes until 2001. At the time of the Al Jazeera Media Network launch Arabsat was the only satellite broadcasting to the Middle East, and for the first year could only offer Al Jazeera a weak C-band transponder that needed
Al Jazeera it as "serving Zionism". Several Al Jazeera staff were killed by U.S. Military "friendly-fire" incidents. The United States controlled Iraqi interim government closed the offices of Al Jazeera in Baghdad in August 2004 during the United States occupation on Iraq. Then United States appointed Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi accused the channel of "inciting hatred" in the country. At the end of April 2013, the Iraqi government led by Nouri Al Maliki once again ordered Al Jazeera to stop broadcasting due to the alleged role of the channel in "encouraging the sectarian unrest". In response to the restrictions imposed by