Violence among the Palestinians

Humanist, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Erika Waak

Obtaining legal assistance is extremely difficult for prisoners, and many lawyers abandon cases after they realize that they can do nothing for the accused. Other lawyers simply refuse to handle political or security prisoners in the first place--one reason being that, in so doing, they could harm their image in front of the PA. Collaboration seems such a contagious accusation that, understandably few want to risk infection by defending those labeled as such. In the best situations, case files are transferred to human rights organizations such as the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza.

Amnesty International estimates that more than one hundred suspects of collaboration are currently detained by the PA without charge or trial, and only two cases of collaboration have actually been brought before the Palestinian supreme court for judicial review. There is an absence of due process in legal proceedings in civilian courts, and Human Rights Watch has sought to defend the independence of the judiciary against pressure and interference by the executive branch of government. Israeli responses to the current intifada, including the destruction of the Palestinian law enforcement infrastructure and severe restrictions on freedom of movement, have aggravated the deterioration of the Palestinian justice system.

Death Sentences

Palestinians are often executed because they allegedly cooperate with the Israelis. But even if the convicted person receives a fair trial that positively proves his or her actions, that individual shouldn't be executed. Rosenbluth argues:

   The societies that practice the death penalty immediately send a signal
   that violence is acceptable which causes a clear breakdown of civil
   society. The Israeli government bears a part of the responsibility for the
   infrastructure of the Palestinian security because Israelis have destroyed
   the police stations so that there are no prisoners in the occupied
   territories. Those who are held in prisons are done so for their own
   protection from being killed.

Some collaborators have been rounded up with no proof and killed or assassinated on the spot--for example, Goldfarb said that a suspected collaborator in Bethlehem was lynched, dragged, and then shot.

   For alleged collaborators, some are arrested unofficially, punishment is
   carried out extra-judicially in one hour with no appeal, and they are
   issued the death sentence. There are some people on death row for which
   Arafat has to sign off, and in some cases its outright murder and is
   tolerated by the authorities with no punishment. This is problematic
   because some parts of the Fatah can act with impunity.

Executions often take place immediately after sentencing and are carried out by firing squad. The European Union, Human Rights Watch, and Palestinian human rights groups have protested such executions, claiming that those convicted haven't been afforded fair trials. Freedom House's survey provides several examples of human rights violations: