In 1993 the area was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority. After Egypt's loss of Gaza to Israel in 1967, amateur radio operation by civilians was generally forbidden. UN stations sometimes added "/4U" to their national call signs and one added the British Protectorate prefix "/ZC6" to his. On 2 December 1994 the Palestine Authority for Gaza and Jericho issued the call-signs to Palestine nationals, ZC6A to Ali Yashruti and ZC6B to Dr. Sama Tarazi (previously KF2GJ) who ran a short operation from the Gaza strip, using the historic call sign ZC6B. Designations used by foreigners have been /GAZA and /ZC6 following their own national call signs. This practice continued until as late as 2001. In 1999 Palestine was allocated the E4 block of call signs and the Palestine Authority granted visitor licenses. Some Hungarian and Japanese nationals used /E4 following their call signs from that date. In October 2012, an E40 call was issued to a Gaza ham who calls on the Jerusalem (Israel Amateur Radio Club) R1 repeater. Since that call was already issued by the Palestinian Authority to a Russian DX'er, as of early December 2012 he started using E44M. He was off the repeater during most of November 2012 due to obvious reasons. Lebanon Amateur radio in Lebanon is governed by the Ministry of Telecommunications including the Ministry of Defense – Intelligence Unit and Ministry of Transport – Civil aviation. Reciprocal and temporary licenses are offered in Lebanon by the Ministry of Telecommunications on a case by case basis, as Lebanon has no agreements with any other country. The ITU assigns the call sign block ODA–ODZ to Lebanon. Until the mid-1950s amateurs there operated with an AR8 prefix. Saudi Arabia Saudi public amateur radio licensing commenced in 2004, as the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission took over regulation within the HZ, 7Z and 8Z ITU call sign area. Foreign hams before then could operate from club stations, like the Dhahran Amateur Radio Club (HZ1AB). HZ1AB was originally the United States Military Training Mission and the station formally closed in 2004. The call sign is now issued to a Saudi national. After deregulation, there are now about 500 licensed radio amateurs in Saudi Arabia. Class 1 licensees (HF, VHF & SHF) are using the prefixes HZ1 or 7Z1, HZ2, 7Z2 stations have licenses class 2 (VHF & SHF only). Saudi Arabia has constructed OSCAR satellites for