Foreign Policy and Human Rights
Dan
Hotel, 18th November, 1999
When the PA was established in
1994, the expectations of the Palestinian people were high. The
people thought that the coming of the PA would protect their
rights that until then had been violated by the Israelis. Today,
the Palestinians are so shocked by the behavior and
attitude of the PA.
The
human rights community is shocked by the pressure put on the PA
by Israel. Especially in order to oppress the political
opposition parties and to arrest people. This pressure left
hundreds of Palestinian detainees in jail for years without
charges and trial. When the Israelis demand the PA to arrest
people, they do it without transferring the criminal records and
files on these people. Without these files, the PA cannot
present the prisoners for trial. Israel does not give out the
files because they consider it to be giving out secret
information.
The
detainees, jailed for
years without trial, have visions about getting revenge over the
Israelis, not over the PA. They feel that it is the Israelis who
are the cause of this detention.
I
want to ask – what can the Israeli security achieve while these
hundreds are in prison? And how can security be achieved through
violations of human rights and suffering of a people?
There
is only one article
in the Oslo agreement mentioning that both sides are supposed to
respect the standards and the principles of human rights, in
which none of them has proved to do yet.
Is
it possible to say that such kind of pressure might create a
dictator-relationship of neighboring countries? Within the
Palestinian community there are rumors that the Israelis are
interested in creating such a relationship in terms to keep the
territories under heavy control.
Given
the lack of governmental funding, the Palestinian NGOs depend
totally on foreign donors. The latter may well have their own
agendas, which need not tally with that of the NGO.
It seems that the
fenders, especially the Europeans, are putting pressure towards
how to keep the peace process forward without giving any
attention or control towards building of the Palestinian civil
society.
Peace
should be based on the rule of law, respecting human beings and
their basic rights. It should not be based on foreign funding
policies in the region, or funding to achieve political
interests in the region.
Does the European
governments put so much prestige in the peace process that all
civil society organizations opposed to the Oslo accords are
struck from the funding-list? And why do the human rights
NGOs focusing on the PA’s own violations have so much troubles
getting funds from European governments?
The
United States, through
USAID, is the country which gives most funding to the
Palestinian judicial system. The Palestinian high court decided
this year to release 54 political prisoners, but the PA denied
to implement it. What does this mean for the Americans? Is their
funding going to help the Palestinian community?
We
the HR Activists are looked at as troublemakers, but everybody
should have to recognize that we are an essential partners for
building peace and civil society |
