BICOM

Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza have engaged in a systematic crackdown on dissent, including the use of torture that may amount to a crime against humanity, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.

The report, titled “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent,” was compiled over two years, and documents 86 cases with 147 interviews, many of ex-detainees and their relatives, lawyers, representatives of nongovernmental groups, photographic evidence, medical reports and court documents.

In many of the cases, Palestinian security officers threatened, beat, and forced detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, including using cables or ropes to hoist up arms behind the back. Police used similar tactics to obtain confessions by people detained for criminal offences and possession of drugs.

Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, told reporters in Ramallah that the report details many cases of people “detained for no clear reason beyond writing a critical article or Facebook post or belonging to the wrong student group or political movement”. The report says that in the 25 years since the Oslo Process, “Palestinian authorities have gained only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet, where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states”.

Human Rights Watch notes that systematic arbitrary arrests and torture violate human rights treaties to which the Palestinian Authority (PA) recently acceded. The report says a few security officers have been prosecuted and none have been convicted for wrongful arrest or torture. It recommends that the EU, US, and other governments that financially support the PA and Hamas should suspend their aid until such practices are stopped and those responsible are held accountable.

Shawan Jabarin, executive director of the Palestinian human rights organisation al-Haq, said: “The fact that Israel systematically violates Palestinians’ most basic rights is no reason to remain silent in the face of the systematic repression of dissent and the torture Palestinian security forces are perpetrating.”

The PA rejected the allegations and accused Human Rights Watch of allying with the US government.