INTRODUCTION TO THE DEATH PENALTY QUESTION IN
PALESTINE
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the Palestinian
Authority) declares that states and governments may not use cruel or
humiliating punishments. On the issue of the death penalty, the countries
of the world have not reached an agreement. Over half of the world's
governments still use the death penalty, but this number decreases every
decade. Today, totalitarian dictatorships are the most likely to use
punishment by death, while democracies and countries with a high standard
of human rights have rejected this policy.
Since the second world war, the trend has been towards the abolition of
the death penalty. Today, 35 countries have done so completely, while
another eighteen reserve it as punishment only for exceptional crimes,
such as genocide and treason. In twenty others the death penalty is still
legal, but no longer implemented.
Recognizing that some countries still choose to maintain the option of
punishment by death, human rights legal documents call on governments to
abide by strict procedures to guarantee that innocent people are not
executed, and that the penalty is applied only after a full judicial
process in which the rights of the accused have been protected. A state
which uses the death penalty is already denying the right to life of the
accused. One which does so while violating basic principles of justice and
the human rights of the accused would belong to the club of bloody
dictatorships that repress, rather then represent, their citizens. There
is a direct connection between the willingness of the state to commit
murder and its willingness to suppress democracy, violate freedom of the
press, commit torture, and imprison citizens for political reasons.
Opposition to the Death Penalty
While any process of trying, convicting and sentencing a suspect to death
is fraught with the possibility of error, killing someone is irrevocable.
Furthermore, active implementation of the death penalty has not been
proven to affect crime rates; most democracies have concluded that
executions actually have a negative impact on society. In many countries,
including (notably) Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the death
penalty is used by the state not only to punish for criminal acts, but to
eliminate political opposition.
Israel and the Death Penalty
The Israeli penal code includes the death penalty as a punishment for
severe crimes, such as terrorism, war crimes, treason, mass murder, and
genocide. In the history of Israel, only one death sentence has been
carried out: that of Adolph Eichman, a Nazi war criminal convicted of
genocide. Other death sentences have been issued, but were later
overturned on appeal.
After its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli military
forbade the issuing of the death penalty in the Occupied Territories by
the criminal courts, despite the fact that the legal codes of the West
Bank (Jordanian and Mandate law) and Gaza (Egyptian and Mandate law)
include the death penalty for some serious crimes. Today, the Gaza-Jericho
Agreement (signed in 1994) forbids Israel to transfer suspects to the
Palestinian Authority unless it is assured that the suspect will not face
the death penalty.
This legal policy is of course balanced by the practice of extra-judicial
executions, which have been used by the Israeli army and the General
Security Services (GSS) since the establishment of the state of Israel.
The Israeli undercover units operating in the Occupied Territories since
the Intifada have been accused repeatedly of following a policy of summary
executions. This accusation has been documented by Israeli, Palestinian,
and international human rights groups. The Israeli government was justly
condemned as responsible for the deaths caused by these units.
Conclusion
If it is quite impossible to justify hanging someone from the arms until
the joints are damaged, how can it be justified to hang someone from the
neck until it breaks? If it is understood to be wrong to shoot and wound a
prisoner held in custody, how can it be legal to shoot and kill the
prisoner? These are the questions that we must answer as a society.
Abolishing the death penalty will strengthen the understanding and
protection of human rights in Palestine. Even criminals of the worst sort
may be punished in many ways without violating any basic human rights.
In preserving the human rights of criminals, we are protecting the civil
rights of all citizens. This is a basic premise of democracy. Execution
denies the right to life of convicted criminals, thus jeopardizing the
safety and security of every citizen.
|
