Palestinian security forces have been arresting and abusing journalists and activists critical of their leaders, Human Rights Watch says in a report weeks before local elections.
The US-based group says abuses have occurred in both the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority is in power, and the Gaza Strip, run by the Islamist movement Hamas, which Israel and much of the West consider a terror group.
“Both Palestinian governments, operating independently, have apparently arrived at similar methods of harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of anyone who dares criticize them,” Sari Bashi, the organization’s Israel and Palestine director, says in a statement.
Palestinian members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, display Qassam home-made rockets during an anti-Israel military parade marking the second anniversary of the killing of Hamas’s military commanders Mohammed Abu Shamala and Raed al-Attar on August 21, 2016 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP / SAID KHATIB)
“The Palestinian people fought hard to gain the protections that accompany membership in the international community, and their leaders should take their treaty obligations seriously,” she says.
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, Adnan al-Damiri, says: “We are committed to the international treaties that we signed and respect for human rights.”
He says officers are trained to avoid rights abuses.
In Gaza, interior ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bozum denies torture or political arrests. He says the Human Rights Watch report “includes many fallacies.”
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
