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- I. INTRODUCTION
- II. LAW IN THE AUTONOMOUS AREAS
- 1. THE LAW UNDER ISRAELI
OCCUPATION
- 2. POST - OSLO CHANGES
- The January 1996 Elections Wi
- III. LEGAL PROCEDURES FOR ARRESTS
AND DETENTIONS
- 1. ARREST & DETENTION PROCEDURES
IN GAZA
- 2. ARREST & DETENTION PROCEDURES
IN THE WEST BANK
- Treatment of Collaborators
- IV. LONG-TERM Illegal DETENTIONS
- 2. CASE STUDIES The following
cases are representative, involving suspected
- V. ILLEGAL AND POLITICAL ARRESTED
- VI. REFUSAL TO ABIDE BY COURT
ORDERS
- Orders to release detainees Case
Studies...
- Orders relating to appointments
and planning
- 1. The new Palestinian bar
association
- 2. Logistics ...many attorneys
and j
- 3. Statements made regarding
land-dealers Should Palestinians who sell land to Israelis by
executed?...
- VIII. SUMMARY The Palestinian
Authority
- Footnotes
- Letter to the Attorney General
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Archives The
bi-monthly
publication of the PHRMG |
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July - Aug. 1997, Issue No. 4
State of Human Rights in Palestine
I. INTRODUCTION
The most severe human rights violations committed by the Palestinian
Authority are torture and arbitrary detention without trial. The first
'State of Human Rights in Palestine' report covered the practice of
torture; this second report focuses on the judicial system, including
arbitrary arrests, long term illegal detentions, and violations of court
orders.
In researching the practice of long term detention without trial, we were
faced with the question of accusing the PA of violating its own laws,
while voices are heard excusing PA behavior on the grounds that its legal
system is still in its infancy. For this reason, sections of this report
provide a brief introduction to the legal system in Palestine. The
military justice system is not covered in this report.
The Palestinian Authority was established as a way station between an
expatriate national liberation movement (the PLO), and a Palestinian
entity negotiating for Israeli permission to become a state. The existing
legal framework is a temporary arrangement until the task of updating the
legal framework in Palestine can be completed. The crucial point however,
is that the existing legal framework is nothing less than an operating
judicial system, capable of dealing with almost any legal task.
When ignored and sabotaged by the executive authority, including the
presidency and the security forces, this judicial system and the judiciary
appears to be helpless. This is the case not only when important issues
are at stake (for example the ability to incarcerate political opponents
indefinitely), but in local conflicts with no apparent significance for
the PA.
This report includes a list of 117 detainees, all of whom have been held
for over a year without trial. It is our fervent wish that as a
consequence of this report, many of them will be released, or allowed
to defend themselves in court.
The conflict between the judiciary and the executive authority (including
the security forces) represents the most severe challenge to the rule of
law in Palestine. The existence of this conflict is entirely the
responsibility of the executive authority and the security forces, who are
guilty of undermining the rule of law in Palestine, and thus pushing
Palestinian society backwards into a state of anarchy and rule by decree.
Having said that, it must also be recognized that the majority of court
cases do not bring the judiciary and the executive authority into direct
conflict. The legal system is capable of operating, and in most cases it
does so with a fair amount of success in conducting its affairs with the
appearance of and according to the spirit of justice.
(1)
1 Note:
the term 'legal system' does not refer to the military courts or the SSC's.
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