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Showing posts with label PA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PA. Show all posts

Friday, February 2, 2018

Its Time For Palestinian Supporters To Look At Themselves

Palestinians: Arbitrary Arrests, Administrative Detentions and World Silence

by 
  • While Israel uses "administrative detention" as a tool to thwart terrorism, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership holds people without trial as a means to silence them and prevent them from voicing any form of criticism against Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders.
  • While administrative detainees in Israel are entitled to see a lawyer, receive family visits and appeal against their incarceration, the Palestinians detained by the PA are denied basic rights. Yet, Israel-obsessed human rights organizations seem uninterested in this fact.
  • Particularly disturbing, however, is not that the PA leadership is acting as a tyrannical regime, but the abiding silence and indifference of the international community and human rights organizations. Those who scream bloody murder about Israel's security measures against terrorism would do the Palestinians a better service by opening their mouths about how human rights are ravaged under the PA.
For many years, Palestinians and their supporters around the world have been condemning Israel for arresting suspected terrorists without trial.
It turns out, however, that the Palestinian Authority (PA) also has a similar policy that permits one of its senior officials to order the arrest of any Palestinian, regardless of the nature of the offense he or she commits.
Israel holds suspected terrorists in "administrative detention" on the basis of laws such as: Israeli Military Order regarding no. 1651 Security Provisions, Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law and Defense (Emergency) Regulations, a law that replaces the emergency laws from the period of the British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948).
It is worth noting that Israeli citizens, and not only Palestinians, have also been held in "administrative detention" over the past few decades. This means that Israel does not distinguish between a Palestinian and an Israeli when it comes to combatting terrorism.
While the campaign against Israel's "administrative detentions" has been going on, the Palestinian Authority has been, according to Palestinian human rights activists and lawyers, conducting unlawful and arbitrary arrests against its own constituents.
Once again, the double standards of the Palestinians and their international supporters have been exposed.
For more than a decade, the PA has been detaining Palestinians without trial for up to six months -- on the basis of an order signed by one of its senior officials, usually a governor appointed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
But while Israel uses "administrative detention" as a tool to thwart terrorism, the Palestinian Authority leadership holds people without trial as a means to silence them and prevent them from voicing any form of criticism against Abbas and other Palestinian leaders.
The PA argues that its "administrative detentions" are being conducted within the framework of the law and as a preemptive measure to safeguard public safety and prevent violence.
While administrative detainees in Israel are entitled to see a lawyer, receive family visits and appeal against their incarceration, the Palestinians detained by the Palestinian Authority are denied basic rights. Yet, Israel-obsessed human rights organizations seem totally uninterested in this fact.

The Palestinian Authority detains people without trial as a means to silence them and prevent them from voicing any form of criticism against President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders. Pictured: PA President Mahmoud Abbas. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

How, then, do the Palestinian Authority's "administrative detentions" work?
According to Palestinian human rights advocates and lawyers, a Palestinian governor or senior official is authorized to issue arrest warrants against any Palestinian for any reason.
Although it remains unclear on what basis PA governors and top officials are entitled to order arrests, some legal experts say they believe the practice is based on a 1954 Jordanian law that is still in effect in the West Bank.
Experts say that although a Jordanian court abrogated the law many years ago, the Palestinian Authority continues to use it against its own people.
Palestinian lawyer and former judge Daoud Dirawi said that the practice of detaining Palestinians on orders of Abbas's governors and top officials was "illegal" and "unconstitutional." He pointed out that the Palestinian High Court of Justice has ruled against the practice.
"Unlawful incarceration is a crime punishable by law," Dirawi explained. "Anyone affected by this practice is entitled to sue for damages. This is one of the most dangerous assaults on public freedoms."
The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (Musawa), says it has received many complaints from Palestinians about the unlawful detentions by the Palestinian Authority.
Noting that the detentions were "unconstitutional" and constitute a grave violation of human rights, Musawa said that governors and senior officials do not have the power to order the arrest of anyone.
Last year, the Faculty of Law at An-Najah University, the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank, held a seminar dedicated to the Palestinian Authority's "administrative detentions."
Dr. Muayad Hattab, dean of the faculty, said that most Palestinian legal experts agreed that the detentions without trial were in violation of the Palestinian law and constitution. He too pointed out that Palestinian courts had repeatedly ruled against the practice of holding people without trial.
Palestinian lawyer Ala Al-Badarneh, who conducted a study about the Palestinian Authority's "administrative detentions," found that most of the detentions were carried out without the knowledge of the governor or the senior Palestinian official in whose name the detention was carried out.
"Detaining people on orders of the governor sometimes occur without the knowledge of the governor," Al-Badarneh said.
"Even when the governor is made aware of the detention, the detainee is not brought before the governor. The governor often denies knowledge of the detention when asked by the families. Jordanian law stipulates that when someone is detained on orders of the governor, he or she must be brought before the governor. But this is not what is happening with those who are being detained without trial by the Palestinian Authority."
Al-Badarneh also noted that the Palestinian "administrative detainees" were being taken into custody on the basis of assessments by the Palestinian security forces, without referring to the party that purportedly ordered the arrest: a governor or senior official.
In some cases, the Palestinian governors and senior officials, who have turned themselves into law-enforcers, resort to "administrative detentions" to circumvent implementing court orders.
A court, for example, can order the release of a detainee, but he or she can still remain behind bars if a governor or top official signs an arrest warrant.
Take, for instance, the case of Mahmoud Asideh of Nablus, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. After 37 days in detention, a number of Palestinian courts ordered Asideh released. To avoid implementing the courts' orders, however, Palestinian Authority security forces served him with an arrest warrant signed by the governor of Nablus. Another detainee, Anas Judallah, also from Nablus, was held in detention on orders of the Nablus governor although a Palestinian court had decided to release him.
In 2016, Palestinian journalist Ragheed Tabasiyeh was detained for 17 days on order of the governor of the West Bank city of Kalkilya. Tabasiyeh said he was interrogated about the nature of his journalistic work and the party he was working for. He was finally released without bail or charges.
In December 2017, Palestinian human rights groups received complaints from seven Palestinians who said they had been detained without trial on the orders of a governor. Two of the detainees have since been released, while the remaining five are still being held without trial.
Palestinians say that the PA is using "administrative detentions" mostly as a tool against its political opponents and to silence critics, and not as a precautionary measure to prevent a crime, as the Palestinian Authority claims.
Khalil Assaf, head of the Independent Palestinians Association in the West Bank, denounced the practice as a crime, saying that it was primarily aimed at silencing the Palestinian Authority's critics. Referring to President Mahmoud Abbas, Assaf wondered:
"How can he who is at the helm of the Palestinian Authority and is breaking the law ask his people to abide by the law? The violation of the law by anyone is unacceptable. Detaining any person on orders of the governor or a senior official is a crime punishable by law."
Thus, we have yet another example of how the Western-funded Palestinian Authority makes a mockery of its judicial system and continues systematically to violate human rights and wage assaults on public freedoms. In a world where any of Abbas's senior officials can sign an arrest warrant against a Palestinian, the Palestinians can only continue to dream of having a country of law and order.
Particularly disturbing, however, is not that the PA leadership is acting as a tyrannical regime (this is absolutely expected by those familiar with the inner workings of Abbas and his loyalists), but the abiding silence and indifference of the international community and human rights organizations. Those who scream bloody murder about Israel's security measures against terrorism would do the Palestinians a better service by opening their mouths about how human rights are ravaged under the Palestinian Authority.
Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
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© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
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Sunday, July 9, 2017

UNESCO Continues Its Anti-Israel, Anti-Semitic And Anti-Bible Ways


UNESCO Rewrites Bible: Declares Hebron is Palestinian

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz 

“And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Avraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth.” Genesis 23:20 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Cave-of-the-Patriarchs.jpg

Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. (Photo credit: hebron.com)
In a secret ballot held at the World Heritage Committee’s 41st annual summit in Krakow Poland, on Friday, UNESCO voted twelve to three in favor declaring the Holy City of Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs “Palestinian world heritage sites”.
The resolution described a Muslim history of the city while blatantly ignoring the Biblical narrative describing 3,000 years of Jewish connection to the site. Six countries abstained from the controversial vote which, at the request of Poland, Croatia, and Jamaica, was a secret ballot; a first for such a vote.
The Palestinian Authority initiated the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) vote, which also declared the city the third site on UNESCO’s list of endangered World Heritage sites that are located in ‘Palestine’.
The purchase of Hebron by Abraham is described in detail in Genesis.
So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border thereof round about, were made sure, unto Avraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. Genesis 23:17-18
Rabbi Tuly Weisz, founder of Breaking Israel News, released an official statement condemning the vote, stating “By renouncing the Jewish claim to Hebron, UNESCO is rejecting the veracity and validity of the Bible, which clearly establishes that Abraham purchased the Cave of Patriarchs and that King David established his capital there. Once again, UNESCO has further angered and alienated millions of Bible-believing Jews and Christians who view Holy Scripture as the ultimate source of truth. This disgraceful UNESCO resolution is just more fake news.”
The United States was very critical of the decision.
“The UNESCO vote on Hebron is tragic on several levels. It represents an affront to history,” US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said. “It undermines the trust that is needed for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to be successful, and it further discredits an already highly questionable UN agency. Today’s vote does no one any good and causes much harm.”
She warned,“The United States is currently evaluating the appropriate level of its continued engagement at UNESCO.”
Immediately following the publication of the vote’s results, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement condemning the outcome saying “[Israel] will continue to protect the Cave of the Patriarchs, freedom of religion for all and [will continue to protect] the truth.”
In response, Netanyahu announced a $1 million cut to Israel’s payments to the UN and said the money would be diverted to establish a Jewish heritage museum in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, adjacent to Hebron, a Palestinian foreign ministry statement said.
The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry released a statement praising the vote.
“Today, Palestine and the world, through UNESCO, celebrate Hebron as part of world heritage, a value that transcends geography, religion, politics, and ideology,” the statement read.
Earlier last week, UNESCO passed a similar vote erasing the historic Jewish connection to Jerusalem. UNESCO has passed several other resolutions to this effect in the past.

Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/91075/unesco-rewrites-bible-declares-hebron-palestinian/#UB52VTA7peMmJGUE.99
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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Abbas Has Changed The Tone But Not The Message. Any Administration That Thinks They Can Get A Peace Treaty Is Foolish.

The Ongoing Drama of Palestinian Lies

by 
  • The current policy of the PA leadership is to avoid alienating the Trump administration by continuing to pretend that Abbas and his cronies are serious about achieving peace with Israel. This is why Abbas's representatives are careful not to criticize Trump or his envoys.
  • When Israel does not comply with their list of demands, the Palestinians will accuse it of "destroying" the peace process. Worse still, the Palestinians will use this charge as an excuse to redouble their terror against Israelis. The Palestinian claim, as always, will be that they are being forced to resort to terrorism in light of the failure of yet another US-sponsored peace process.
  • No doubt, Abbas cannot find it within himself to clarify to the American envoys that he lacks a mandate from his people to make any step toward peace with Israel. Abbas knows, even if the American representatives do not, that any move in that direction would end his career, and very possibly his life. Abbas also does not wish to go down in Palestinian history as the treacherous leader who "sold out to the Jews." Moreover, someone can come along later and say, quite correctly, that as Abbas has exceeded his legitimate term in office, any deal he makes is illegal and illegitimate.
US envoys Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, who met this week in Jerusalem and Ramallah with Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to discuss reviving the peace process, have discovered what previous US Middle East envoys learned in the past two decades -- that the PA has not, cannot, and will not change.
During their meeting in Ramallah with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the two US emissaries were told that the Palestinians will not accept anything less than an independent state along on the pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Jared Kushner (left), Senior Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on June 21, 2017 in Ramallah. (Photo by Thaer Ghanaim/PPO via Getty Images)

Abbas also made it clear that he has no intention to make concessions on the "right of return" for Palestinian "refugees." This means he wants a Palestinian state next to Israel while flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees" and turning it, too, into another Palestinian state.
At the meeting, Abbas also reiterated his demand that Israel release all Palestinian prisoners, including convicted murderers with Jewish blood on their hands, as part of any peace agreement. The release of terrorists in the past has only resulted in increased terrorism against Israel.
According to Abbas's spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, the PA president told Kushner and Greenblatt that a "just and comprehensive peace should be based on all United Nations resolutions (pertaining to the Israeli-Arab conflict) and the (2002) Arab Peace Initiative." Translation: Israel must withdraw to the indefensible pre-1967 lines and allow armed Palestinian factions to sit on the hilltops overlooking Ben Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv.
Abbas's position reflects accurately the policy of the PA leadership over the past two decades -- a policy that has been regularly relayed to all previous US administrations, successive Israeli governments and the international community.
To his credit, Abbas has been nothing short of consistent. He has never, ever, displayed a willingness to offer any concessions to Israel. He misses no opportunity to reaffirm his demands to all world leaders and government officials, with whom he meets on a regular basis.
Nonetheless, some in the international community still believe that Abbas or any other Palestinian leader will be able to make concessions in return for peace with Israel.
Incredibly, Kushner and Greenblatt seem to believe that they can succeed where all others have failed.
The two inexperienced US envoys are laboring under the illusion that they will persuade Abbas and the PA leadership to drop demands such as the "right of return," the release of imprisoned terrorists and a cessation of construction in settlements.
Why President Trump's envoys are creating the dangerously misleading impression that peace is possible under the current PA leadership is nothing short of a mystery.
Creating such an impression is likely to boomerang with a vengeance; the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Giving the Palestinians the feeling that the Trump administration holds a magic wand for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will eventually increase Palestinian bitterness and hostility towards both the Americans and Israel. When the Palestinians wake up to the fact that the Trump administration will not strong-arm Israel to its knees, they will resume their rhetorical attacks against Washington, accusing it once again of being "biased" in favor of Israel.
This was precisely the fate of previous US administrations and presidents who disappointed the Palestinians by failing to impose dictates on Israel. The Palestinians are still dreaming of the day that the US or any other superpower would force Israel to comply with all their demands.
When Israel does not comply with their list of demands, the Palestinians will accuse it of "destroying" the peace process.
Worse still, the Palestinians will use this charge as an excuse to redouble their terror attacks against Israelis. The Palestinian claim, as always, will be that they are being forced to resort to terrorism in light of the failure of yet another US-sponsored peace process.
The Trump administration is making a colossal mistake in thinking that Abbas or any of his Palestinian Authority cronies can exhibit any flexibility whatsoever toward Israel, particularly concerning Jerusalem, settlements and the "right of return."
No doubt, Abbas cannot find it within himself to clarify to the American envoys that he lacks a mandate from his people to make any step toward peace with Israel. Abbas knows, even if the American representatives do not, that any move in that direction would end his career, and very possibly his life.
Abbas also does not wish to go down in Palestinian history as the treacherous leader who "sold out to the Jews."
Despite the best intentions of the US envoys and others in the international community, Abbas knows full well the fate of any Palestinian leader who even considers "collaboration" with the "Zionist entity."
Abbas, whose term in office expired in 2009 and is seen as an illegitimate president by many Palestinians, is not even in a position to offer Israel any concessions for peace. First, someone can come along later and say, quite correctly, that as Abbas has exceeded his legitimate term in office, any deal he makes is illegal and illegitimate.
Abbas also cannot halt anti-Israel incitement; he cannot stop payments to convicted murderers and their families and he cannot accept Jewish sovereignty over the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Even if some of his aides sometimes come out with statements suggesting that the PA leadership is prepared to consider some concessions on these issues, these remarks should not be taken seriously: they are only intended for Western audiences.
The PA's declared position is that it has already made enough concessions by merely recognizing Israel's right to exist and dropping Palestinian claims to "all of Palestine." This position argues that it is Israel, and not the Palestinians, that needs to make concessions for peace.
"We have reached the red line with regards to making concessions [to Israel]," explained Ashraf al-Ajrami, a former PA cabinet minister. "We have already made a series of concessions on the core issues, while Israel has not presented us with anything."
It might be recalled that this statement by the former PA official is a staggering lie, given the generous offers, gestures and concessions made by successive Israeli prime ministers and governments over the past two decades.
Again and again, all Israeli initiatives have been met with Palestinian rejectionism and stepped-up violence.
The offer made by Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000 to withdraw from most of the territories Israel captured in 1967 was met with the Second Intifada.
The Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip five years later was misinterpreted by Palestinians as a sign of weakness and retreat, and resulted in thousands of rockets and missiles being fired at Israel.
Another generous and unprecedented offer by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fell on deaf ears.
The current policy of the Palestinian Authority leadership is to avoid alienating the Trump administration by continuing to pretend that Abbas and his cronies are serious about achieving peace with Israel. This is why Abbas's representatives are careful not to criticize Trump or his envoys.
Abbas wants to deceive the Trump administration into believing that he has the courage, will and mandate to make peace with Israel, the same way he lied to previous Israeli prime ministers. This is the same Abbas who, for the past 10 years, has not been able to even go back to his private residence in the Gaza Strip, which remains under Hamas control.
But in private, some senior Palestinian officials have been criticizing the Trump administration for simply daring to make demands of the PA leadership, such as halting anti-Israel incitement and the payment of salaries to imprisoned terrorists and their families. In other words, what the Palestinian officials are saying is that either Trump accepts our demands or he can go to hell.
"The Americans have actually endorsed the Israeli position," complained Hanna Amireh, a senior PLO official.
"The Palestinian leadership rejects the demand to stop financial aid to the prisoners and their families... Instead of setting preconditions for the Palestinians, the Americans must demand an end to Israeli settlement construction and incitement."
In the twisted world of the Palestinian Authority leadership, Israeli demands for an end to the Palestinian glorification of murderers is itself an act of "incitement."
How dare Israel demand that the PA leadership halt funds to imprisoned terrorists and their families? How dare Israel expose incitement and glorification of murderers and terrorists?
The PA leadership simply cannot fathom the problem with naming streets, public squares and youth and women's centers after murderers of Jews.
It is only a matter of time before the PA leadership begins openly to accuse the Trump administration of being biased in favor of Israel. In the world of Abbas and his cronies, any US administration that does not swallow their lies and fabrications is a "hostile" party that is controlled by Jews and Zionists.
This is precisely what the Palestinians said about Trump and his team during the US presidential election campaign.
The PA leadership has indeed softened its tone against Trump and his advisors since they won the election. Yet this modified tone has one goal: for the PA to avoid accusations of being anti-peace.
In fact, the PA leadership has changed its tone, not its tune. We are witnessing a tactical and temporary move on the part of the Palestinians. This play-acting will end soon enough. The question remains, will the West notice that the curtain has gone down on the show?
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
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Thursday, February 16, 2017

Palestinian Model Is Not One Of Freedom But Despotic, Autocratic, Dictatorial Arab World

Palestinian Assault on Freedoms

by 
  • The Palestinians seem to be marching towards establishing a regime that is remarkably reminiscent of the despotic and corrupt Arab and Islamic governments.
  • By failing -- or, more accurately, refusing -- to hold the PA accountable for its crackdown on public freedoms, American and European taxpayers actively contribute to the emergence of another Arab dictatorship in the Middle East.
  • Palestinian professor Abdel Sattar Qassem, who teaches political science at An-Najah University in Nablus, is facing trial for "extending his tongue" against PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior PA officials.
  • Many Palestinians used to say that their dream is that one day they would have a free media and democracy like their neighbors in Israel. But thanks to the apathy of the international community, Palestinians have come to learn that if and when they ever have their own state, its role model will not be Israel or any Western democracy, but the regimes of repression that control the Arab and Muslim world.
A novelist, a journalist and a university professor walk into a bar. Sounds like a joke, but it stops being funny when these three figures are the latest victims of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) crackdown on public freedoms, above all, freedom of expression.
The crackdown is yet more proof of the violent intolerance that the Western-funded PA has long shown its critics.
It is also a sad reminder that more than two decades after the foundation of the PA, Palestinians are as far from democracy as ever. In fact, the Palestinians seem to be marching in the opposite direction -- towards establishing a regime that is remarkably reminiscent of the despotic and corrupt Arab and Islamic governments.
PA officials like to boast that Palestinians living under their rule in the West Bank enjoy a great deal of freedom of expression, especially compared to the situation under Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, a good look at the actions of the PA and its various security branches shows that they are not much different than those enforced by Hamas.
Sometimes it even seems as if the PA and Hamas are competing to see which one of them can most successfully silence critics and cracks down on journalists. This is the sad reality in which Palestinians living under the rule of these two parties have found themselves.
While it is understandable why an extremist Islamic movement like Hamas would seek to muzzle its critics, there is no reason why a PA government funded by Americans and Europeans should not be held accountable for persecuting dissidents and throwing objectors into prison.
By failing -- or, more accurately, refusing -- to hold the PA accountable for its crackdown on public freedoms, American and European taxpayers actively contribute to the emergence of another Arab dictatorship in the Middle East.
Hundreds of Western-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs), operating in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, pay scant attention to the real problems facing Palestinians as a result of the actions of their PA and Hamas governments. The same applies to Western mainstream media and human rights organizations and advocates.
This willful neglect by the West encourages the Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to continue repressing their own people. There are times, however, when the international community pays attention to the plight of Palestinians: when the complaints concern Israel.
The PA government bans a Palestinian novel and confiscates copies from bookstores. Where is the outcry? There is none to be heard from the international community - because Israel was not behind the incident.
This is what happened last week when the PA Prosecutor-General issued an order banning the novel "Crime in Ramallah" by the author Abbad Yahya under the pretext that it contained "indecent texts and terms that threaten morality and public decency, which could affect the public, in particular minors."
Yahya said he was summoned for questioning and his editor, Fuad Al-Aklik, was detained for 24 hours. PA policemen raided several bookshops in a number of Palestinian cities and confiscated all copies. The author, who is on a visit to Qatar, has since received multiple death threats and is afraid to return home.
The decision to ban the novel prompted 99 Palestinian writers, academics and researchers to sign a petition criticizing the PA authorities and calling for rescinding the ban. The petition called on the PA to cancel its punitive measures, which "cause harm to the Palestinians and their struggle for freedom from oppression, dictatorship and censorship." The petition warned that the ban was a "grave breach of freedom of expression and creativity" and creates a situation where authors are forced to practice self-censorship.
The petition signed by the prominent Palestinians does not seem to have left an impression on the PA leadership in Ramallah.
Undeterred, PA security forces arrested journalist Sami Al-Sai, from the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, for allegedly posting critical comments on Facebook. The PA has accused Al-Sai, who works as a correspondent for a private television station, of "fomenting sectarian strife."
This is an accusation that is often leveled against journalists or authors who dare to criticize the PA leadership. A PA court has ordered Al-Sai remanded into custody for 15 days. Protests by some Palestinian journalists against the arrest of their colleague have thus far fallen on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, Palestinian professor Abdel Sattar Qassem, who teaches political science at An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, is facing trial for "extending his tongue" against PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior PA officials. He is also charged with spreading "fake news" and "fomenting sectarian strife." The decision to prosecute Qassem came following a TV interview where he strongly criticized Abbas and commanders of the PA security forces. Qassem has long been a vocal critic of the PA leadership and as a result he has been arrested on a number of occasions; shots have been fired at his home.

Professor Abdul Sattar Qassem (left) is facing trial for "extending his tongue" against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) and other senior PA officials.

These three cases are only the tip of an iceberg of oppression. It is very difficult to distinguish between Mahmoud Abbas's government and the Arab and Islamic dictatorships, where human rights violations and assaults on public freedoms are the established norm. In his despotic behavior, Abbas has also shown himself to be rather akin to his clampdown-prone predecessor, Yasser Arafat.
Dr. Khalil Assaf, member of the Palestinian Public Freedoms Committee in the West Bank, accused the PA of systematic assaults on public freedoms and human rights.
He noted, for example, that refusing to issue or renew passports was one the measures taken by the PA to punish its opponents. He also accused the PA of "inventing" a law that authorizes its governors to order the detention without trial of any Palestinian. He pointed out that although the Palestinian High Court had ruled that this law was illegal, the PA governors continue to use it to detain Palestinians.
"Palestinians are being detained for days without being brought before a judge and houses are being searched without warrants," Dr. Assaf complained. "Detainees are often prevented from contacting their families to inform them of their incarceration." He also noted that Palestinians are sometimes denied driving licenses or jobs because of their political activities. Palestinians are also being detained or summoned for interrogation because of their posts on Facebook, he added.
Many Palestinians used to say that their dream is that one day they would have a free media and democracy like their neighbors in Israel. But thanks to the apathy of the international community, the Palestinians have come to learn that if and when they ever have their own state, its role model will not be Israel or any Western democracy, but the regimes of repression that control the Arab and Muslim world.
Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
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© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
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