Human rights in the Palestinian National Authority

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This article outlines the human rights record of the Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank and Gaza. For Israel's human rights record in the occupied territories, please see Human rights in Israel#Israel's record: human rights in the occupied territories

Contents 1 Governmental structure 1.1 Right of representation 1.2 Criminal Codes 2 Status of freedom, political rights and civil liberties 2.1 Rights and Liberties Ratings 3 Individual freedoms and rights 3.1 Freedom of speech 3.2 Freedom of the Press 3.3 Exposure of civilian targets to military action 3.4 Freedom of religion 3.4.1 Treatment of Christian converts from Islam 3.4.2 Treatment of Jewish holy sites 3.4.3 Treatment of Christian holy sites 3.4.4 Justification for PA treatment of Jewish holy sites 3.5 Freedom of employment 3.6 Status of women 3.7 Right to live in Peace 3.8 Capital punishment 3.9 Conditions for detainees 3.10 Education 4 Governmental corruption 5 Notes and references 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Governmental structure

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA; Arabic: السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية‎ As-Sulta Al-Wataniyya Al-Filastiniyya Hebrew: הרשות הפלסטינית Harashut Hafalastinit) is an interim administrative organization that nominally governs parts of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip, which are part of the Palestinian Territories. Established in 1994, it was part of the Oslo accords between the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the government of Israel created to allow a limited form of Palestinian self-governance in the territories for a period of five years during which final-status negotiations would take place. The Palestinian Authority carries civil responsibility in some rural areas, as well as security responsibility in the major cities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Although the five-year interim period expired in 1999, the final status agreement has yet to be concluded despite attempts including the 2000 Camp David Summit, the Taba summit, and the unofficial Geneva Accords. In 2005 Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip, ceding full effective internal control of the territory to the Palestinian Authority.

[edit] Right of representation

According to the Palestinian "Basic Law", signed by Arafat in 2002, the structure of the PA is based on three separate branches of power:^[1] executive, legislative, and judiciary. From the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1993 until the death of Yasser Arafat in late 2004, only one election had taken place. Yasser Arafat, was elected as President of PA in 1996. After Arafat's death, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was elected president of the PA in 2005. The legislative branch of the PA is elected. The Judiciary Branch has yet to be completely formalized.

[edit] Criminal Codes

Criminal codes from Jordan are used in the West Bank and those from Egypt are used in Gaza.

[edit] Status of freedom, political rights and civil liberties

[edit] Rights and Liberties Ratings

Freedom House rating of the Palestinian National Authority compared to the Israeli-occupied territories, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel ^[2]

Country	Political rights (PR)	Civil liberties (CL)	Freedom rating Free, Partly Free, Not Free
Territories under Palestinian National Authority	5	5	Partly Free
Israeli occupied territories	6	5	Not Free
Jordan	5	4	Partly Free
Egypt	6	5	Not Free
Israel	1	2	Free

Note. For PR and CL, 1 represents the most free and 7 the least free rating. See also Freedom in the World 2006, List of indices of freedom.

Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2001-2002, reports Civil liberties declined due to: shooting deaths of Palestinian civilians by Palestinian security personnel; the summary trial and executions of alleged collaborators by the Palestinian Authority (PA); extra-judicial killings of suspected collaborators by militias; and the apparent official encouragement of Palestinian youth to confront Israeli soldiers, thus placing them directly in harm's way.^[3]

The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group reports everyday disagreements and clashes between the various political factions, families and cities that a complete picture of Palestinian society is painted. These divisions have during the course of the al Aqsa Intifada also led to an increasingly violent ‘Intrafada’. In the 10 year period from 1993 to 2003, 16% of Palestinian civilian deaths were caused by Palestinian groups or individuals.^[4]

[edit] Individual freedoms and rights

[edit] Freedom of speech

Since 1994, although a number of urban areas within the West Bank and Gaza Strip have come under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and in theory the PA has guaranteed freedom of assembly to the Palestinian population, nevertheless in practice this has been a problematic area as the right to demonstrate for opponents of the PA regime or of PA policy has become increasingly subject to police control and restriction and is a source of concern for human rights groups ^[5]

Threats of death were made against Minister Nabil Shaath for planning to participate in a conference in Italy attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom by the Jenin Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. They declared, "He will be sentenced to death if he enters. The decision cannot be rescinded, we call upon his bodyguards to abandon his convoy in order to save their lives."^[6]

Nabil Amar, former Minister of Information and a cabinet member and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was shot by masked gunmen after criticizing Arafat and calling for reforms in the PA in a television interview.^[7]

A Hamas-run council in the West Bank came under international criticism in 2005 for barring an open-air music and dance festival, on the basis of being “against Islam”.^[8]

[edit] Freedom of the Press

16 Palestinian journalists have been killed or wounded by PA security forces or armed groups. ^[9]

Abdullah Issa, Palestianian publisher and editor of the on-line magazine Donia al-Watan was detained in July 2006 by the Palestinian Authority for publishing a story about the theft of $400,000 from PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar while visiting Kuwait. The story casted aspersions on Hamas for having large amounts of cash while the Palestinian people were suffering from poverty. This story had appeared elsewhere in the Arabic media. Issa, accused Zahar and Hamas of interfering with freedom of the press in the Palestinian territories and expressed disappointment with Hamas's falure to reign in corruption as promised in their election platform: "Our people have the right to hold Hamas accountable for the deterioration in their living conditions,...We were hoping that the Hamas government would start chasing and arresting all the murderers and thugs who continue to roam the streets of the Gaza Strip and to open all the cases of financial corruption." Donia al_Watan offices have been attacked by masked gunmen and there have been death threats against Issa and staff ^[10].

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades has been blamed for a number of attacks on journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the Arab television station Al-Arabiya's West Bank offices.

In September 2006, a journalist was severely beaten and all the computer equiptment in the office of the Palestinian Authority's official news agency Wafa. Graffiti was sprayed on the wall accusing the agency of a lack of objectivity. Fatah officials noted that PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar has accused the agency "of waging a politically-motivated campaign of incitement" against him and blamed Hamas for the attack. Khan Yunis governor Osama al-Farra condemned the attack, saying it, "reflected the continued state of anarchy and lawlessness in PA-controlled areas". ^[11]

In September 2001, Wednesday, it was reported that Yasser Arafat's Tanzim had kidnapped a Palestinian cameraman who had shot film showing Palestinian citizens and police in Ramallah celebrating on 9/11/2001 following the attacks on US targets, and threatened to kill the cameraman if the item the film was shown on air ^[12].

[edit] Exposure of civilian targets to military action

In November 2006, 50 veiled Palestinian women responded to a radio appeal to act as human shields between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen hiding in a Gaza mosque. Women acted as a cover against Israeli troops allowing armed men occupying the Mosque to escape. 2 of these women were killed by Israeli forces ^[13].

The Palestinian Authority has been accused of using civilians as human shields and civilian property such as houses as sites for smuggling arms ^[14], launching sites for rockets, and factories to produce munitions, thereby exposing them to harm from Israeli Defense Forces military operations. Civilian deaths caused by these strikes are widely publicized in the media and create favorable public opinion for the PA and negative public opinion against Israel.

Hakham Balawi has stated, "... It is prohibited to launch rockets and to fire weapons from houses, and that is a supreme Palestinian interest that should not be violated because the result is barbaric retaliation by the occupying army and the citizenry cannot accept such shooting. Those who do it are a certain group that does not represent the people and nation, doing it without thinking about the general interest and public opinion in the world and in Israel. There is no vision or purpose to the missiles; the Palestinian interest is more important"^[15]

The firing of Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel has been opposed by those living closest to the firing location due to Israeli military responses. On July 23, 2004 a family attempted to physically prevent the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades from setting up a Qassam rocket launcher outside their house. Members of the brigade shot one member of the family, an Arab boy, and wounded 5 others.^{[16][17][18][19]}

[edit] Freedom of religion

Between 1948 and 1967, many Jewish holy sites including all 48 synagogues in East Jerusalem were destroyed by Jordan, however many Jewish and Christian holy sites remain in areas controlled by the Palestinian National Authority. Under the Oslo Accords, both the Palestinians and Israel agreed to respect and protect religious rights of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Samaritans by a) protecting the Holy Sites, 2) providing free access to the Holy Sites, and assuring freedom of worship and practice. a. Protection of the Holy Sites; b. Free access to the Holy Sites; and c. Freedom of worship and practice. The PA, however, has insome cases failed to honor these commitments (see sections below).

A Christian leader was recently quoted as saying that “[t]here have been rampant reports of abuses and persecution in several West Bank towns taken over by the PA. Anti-Christian riots have been reported in Ramallah, Nazareth and surrounding villages as well as in towns in Gaza.”^[8]

In April 2006, major Muslim organizations, local mosques, the city's Mufti and municipal leaders in the West Bank town Qalqiliya requested the interior minister of the Palestinian Authority shut down the Young Men's Christian Association, which had operated in the town since 2000, due to missionary activity. The manager of the YMCA denied that the organization was involved in missionary activity saying, "It's not what we're about. There is no missionary activity here whatsoever. The YMCA is in the city to serve the population with financial help, sporting activities and general educational programs," and pointing to the organizations employment of many Muslims, their establishment of community programs including financing a mostly Muslim soccer club that had competed in national games. The town's Muslim leadership issued a petition demanding that the oranization close down the Qalqiliya branch or face violence which read as follows: "We the preachers of the mosques and representatives of major families in Qalqiliya ask you to close the offices of the YMCA because the population of Qalqiliya doesn't need such offices, especially since there are not many Christians in our city...It warned, "The act of these institutions of the YMCA, including attempting to convert Muslims in our city, will bring violence and tension." Three days before the delivery of this petitions, many imams spoke about the issue during Friday religious services; the following day Molotov cocktails were thrown at Qalqiliya's YMCA. In September 2006, the YMCA was given a "final notification" by local leaders. On 11 September 2006, the organization's building was broken into and torched by assialants identified by members of the local government as members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad well-known to local security forces.^[8]

[edit] Treatment of Christian converts from Islam

According to the U.S. State Department's Annual Report on Religious Freedom, 2000, “there were periodic reports that some Christian converts from Islam who publicize their religious beliefs have been harassed. Converts complained that they were mistreated and threatened. The draft Palestinian Basic Law specifically forbids discrimination against individuals based on their religion; however, the PA did not take any action against persons accused of harassment”.^[20]

Senator Connie Mack made the following remarks on the floor of the US Senate after a visit to the Middle East in 1999, "[I met] an energetic man, in his early 40s [who had] converted to Christianity in 1993. He clearly loved God, and he loved to tell people about his conversion....In 1997, the Palestinian Authority asked him to come to the police station for questioning. When he arrived, he was immediately arrested and detained on charges of selling land to Jews. He denied this charge, since he was very poor and owned no land. He was beaten. He was hung from the ceiling by his hands for many hours...After two weeks, he was transferred to a larger prison where he was held for eight months without trial. He was released in February 1998, after his family borrowed thousands of dollars to pay off the local authorities. And even though he is free, they are keeping his father in prison. They believe it is for his son's beliefs. He feels his father is being held hostage to prevent him from talking with people about his faith" ^[21]

[edit] Treatment of Jewish holy sites

As the occupied territories have been turned over to the PA, Jewish Holy sites have been destroyed and Jews have been denied access to Holy sites and subject to violence and murder when attempting to visit them to worship and practice. All of the synagogues in Gaza were destroyed by the Palestinians after Israel's withdrawal. Commenting on this, Abu Mazen remarked that there were no synagogues there because the Jews had taken their holy books and objects with them when they left. On the West Bank, Rabbi Hillel Lieberman was killed while attempting to visit Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. During the second intifada, the ancient "Shalom on Israel" Synagogue in Jericho was looted and destroyed by Palestinians and an attempt (foiled by the IDF) was made to destroy the Tomb of Joshua Bin Nun in Timnath-heres. Joseph's Tomb in Nablus was a site of clashes between Jews and Palestinians. The Israeli army agreed to withdraw from the site and turn over control to the Palestinian police, who had agreed to protect the site. Instead, they stood by while mobs ransacked the site and burned holy books. ^[22]

[edit] Treatment of Christian holy sites

The PA has failed to honor their commitment to some Christians as well. In 1997, Abraham's Oak Russian "Holy Trinity" Monastery in Hebron was taken over by PA police who violently removed monks and nuns and took over the site. During the second intifada, Fatah gunmen fired on the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo from areas adjacent to the Church of St. Nicholas in Beit Jalla. A Christian cleric was quoted as saying, "The positions chosen ... are near to churches ..hoping that Israel's return fire will hit a church," reported a Christian cleric. "Then it will be front-page news for the ‘Christian West,' that Israel is now destroying churches."^[23]

[edit] Justification for PA treatment of Jewish holy sites

The PA defends their actions by deligitamizing Jewish rights to these sites and Jewish history at these sites:

"That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Moslem shrine". – Yasser Arafat. ^[24]

"The archeology of Jerusalem is diverse – excavations in the Old City and the areas surrounding it revealed Umayyad Islamic palaces, Roman ruins, Armenian ruins and others, but nothing Jewish. Outside of what is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments, there is no tangible evidence of any Jewish traces in the old city of Jerusalem and its immediate vicinity." ^[25]

"Be alert and treat Joseph's Tomb and Rachel's Tomb as parcels of Palestinian land which must be liberated, and treat Joseph and Rachel as two people who died, like anyone else." ^[26]

"Abraham was neither Jewish nor a Hebrew, but was simply an Iraqi. The Jews have no right to claim part of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Abraham's resting place, as a synagogue. Rather, the whole building should be a mosque." ^[27]

"No stone of the Al-Buraq [Western] Wall has any relation to Judaism. The Jews began praying at this wall only in the 19th century, when they began to develop [national] aspirations." ^[28]

[edit] Freedom of employment

Many Palestinians are dependent on access to the Israeli job market for their livelihood. During the 1990s, some Palestinians began having greater difficulty finding work as Israel, citing security concerns, began to replace Palestinians with foreign workers. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Status of women

Women have full suffrage in the PA.

According to the 2005 Annual report of The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, 11 Palestinian women died as a result of Honor killings in 2005.^[29]

Israeli officials say Hamas in the Gaza Strip has established hard-line Islamic courts and created the Hamas Anti-Corruption Group, which is described as a kind of "morality police" operating within Hamas' organization. Hamas has denied the existence of the anti-corruption group, but it was recently report to have carried out a high-profile "honor killing" widely covered by the Palestinian media.^[8]

A November 2006 Human Rights Watch report, A Question of Security Violence against Palestinian Women and Girls^[30], notes that, "a significant number of women and girls in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are victims of violence perpetrated by family members and intimate partners. While there is increasing recognition of the problem and some Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have indicated their support for a more forceful response, little action has been taken to seriously address these abuses. Indeed, there is some evidence the level of violence is getting worse while the remedies available to victims are being further eroded." The report discusses spousal and child abuse, rape, incest, and “honor” crimes. The report suggests that reasons for the PA's failure to respond to the violence include, "discriminatory laws that condone and perpetuate such violence and the virtual absence of institutionalized policies to prevent violence, assist victims, and hold perpetrators accountable". The report outlines Jordanian laws in force in the West Bank and Egyptian laws in Gaza, "include provisions that provide a reduction in penalty to men who kill or attack female relatives committing adultery; relieve rapists who agree to marry their victims from any criminal prosecution; and allow only male relatives to file incest charges on behalf of minors". In addition, HRW interviewed Palestinian police officers, including chiefs of police who, "downplayed the severity of violence against women in the OPT and questioned the need for their involvement in the dissemination of potentially life-saving information to victims." The report also noted that, "police officers and clan leaders regularly “mediate” and “resolve” these cases, typically by returning the abused women to the “care and protection” of her attacker, without ever referring the case to the courts or the woman to social or other services she might need". While Human Rights Watch acknowledged, "the severe constraints that the Israeli occupation imposes upon the PA," they concluded that, "notwithstanding these limitations, the PA holds ultimate responsibility for protecting victims and holding perpetrators accountable...and that PA is failing to act diligently to prevent, investigate, and punish violence against women, putting women’s health and lives in jeopardy. Ultimately, the PA is denying victims their rights under international human rights law to non-discrimination and an effective judicial remedy for abuse".

[edit] Right to live in Peace

According to last Annual report of The Palestinain Human Rights Monitoring Agency, in 2005, 385 Total Palestinian fatalities were recorded. Of these, 222 Palestinians were killed by Palestinians, 113 Palestinians were killed by Israelis and 50 Palestinians were killed in unclear circumstances. 9 Palestinians were killed by Israeli settlers. The same year, 51 Israelis were killed by Palestinians; 42 were civilians, 9 were members of the military.

Israelis killed 34 Palestinians in Extrajudicial killings in 2005. Palestians killed 10 Palestinians suspected to be Israeli collaborators in vigilante assassinations in 2005. ^[31]

[edit] Capital punishment

Capital punishment is legal in the PA. The PA enacted 5 capital executions in 2005. ^[32]

[edit] Conditions for detainees

Amnesty International has published a number of reports documenting the Palestine Authority's arrest and detention of civilians without charge. In one year at least 400 such detentions were reported, primarily of political dissidents to the Palestine Authority[9]. In that single year Amnesty International found: "Torture [by the Palestine Authority] of detainees remained widespread. Seven detainees died in custody. Unlawful killings, including possible extrajudicial executions, continued to be reported."

[edit] Education

According the a ministrial statistic conducted in September 2005, there is 2267 schools in general education, 31001 classes, 1078488 students, and 48674 teachers in the Palestinian territories. 24% of schools are UNRWA-operated, 70% are governmental, and 6% are private. Another statistic conducted in May 2005 shows that there are 138139 students enrolled in Higher Education Institutions. Between these students, 9002 (6.5%) are in community colleges, 6034 (4.4%) in university colleges, 46453 (33.6%) in Al-Quds Open University, and 76650 (55.5%) in traditional universities.

[edit] Governmental corruption

During his lifetime, President Yassir Arafat's administration was criticized for its lack of democracy, wide-spread corruption among officials, and the division of power among families and numerous governmental agencies with overlapping functions. Promises to end this corruption were prominent in the Hamas platform in the 2006 elections.

Hanan Ashrawi who was spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation during the Peace Negotiations 1991-93, and for President Yassir Arafat, 1994-96, and Commissioner for Human Rights, 1998, resigned from the Arafat cabinet in protest of his inaction against corruption ^[33].

In the area of security, Arafat established over ten distinct security organizations in an alleged divide et impera scheme. This has been blamed for leading to an atmosphere of power-struggle which enabled Arafat to preserve overall control.

After the failure of the PA to arrest the Palestinian terrorists who murdered three members of an American diplomatic convoy traveling in the Gaza Strip on October 15, 2003, David Satterfield, the second-in-charge at the United States Department of State Near East desk stated in hearing before the Senate,"There has been no satisfactory resolution of this case. We can only conclude that there has been a political decision taken by the chairman (Yasser Arafat) to block further progress in this investigation. After the Palestinian Authority failed to reign in militias rampaging the city and multiple attempts by Palestinian terrorists to assassinate him, Ghassan Shaqawa (the mayor of Nablus) filed his resignation from office in protest in 2004. Gaza's police chief, General Saib al-Ajez, remarked, "Internal conflict between police and the militants cannot happen. It is forbidden. We are a single nation and many people know each other and it is not easy to kill someone who is bearing a weapon to defend his nation."^[34]

Justice Minister Nahed Arreyes resigned in 2004 stating that he has been stripped of much of his authority over the legal system. The year before, Arafat had created a rival agency to the Justice Ministry and was accused of continuing to control the judiciary and in particular the state prosecutors.^[35]

A 2004 report prepared for the Palestinian Legislative Council blamed the anarchy and chaos in the PA on Yasser Arafat and the PA's security forces, which "have failed to make a clear political decision to end it".^[36]

Arafat and the PA have been accused of financial corruption as well. In 1992, the Kuwaiti Al-Watan daily published a report detailing a deposit by Arafat of 5.1 million dollars of Arab aid meant for the Palestinians into personal accounts to cover personal expenses, including the costs of his wife and daughter's Paris and Switzerland households. According to that report, funds from Kuwait and the other Gulf states [meant] for reconstruction of Hebron homes were distributed to the PA leaders close to Arafat and top officials of the Fatah movement instead. Additionally, there were reports of food aid to the PA being sold in markets rather than being distributed to the populace. ^[37]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Human rights in Israel

[edit] External links