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Published Articles by   Bassem Eid

Jerusalem, December 06, 1999

 Arafat takes all measures to undermine democratic debate – seriously embarrassing the PA and the Palestinian People

  Since the arrest of 11 of the “Petition 20” signatories (of which 8 are still in prison, 5 of them announcing a hunger strike yesterday), the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arafat himself have taken several illegal steps to stop protests against the authority and democratic debate on the issue:

 -         Keeping the signatories in arbitrary arrest and planning to present them for the “state security court” on charges of “incitement”. The “state security court” itself is a great violation of both Palestinian law and the Universal Human Rights Declaration. Established in April 1995, it was designed to prosecute political critics opposed to the Oslo process and those Palestinians involved in opposing and resisting the Israeli occupation army. During 1999, this court has sentenced 15 people, three of them with death sentence.  The PHRMG and other human rights organisations dismisses this court as an illegal body aimed at giving a legal cover to the violation of human rights and civil liberties under the PA regime.

          Refusing dialogue. Several statements released by Palestinian public figures and others calling for a dialogue through November 29 to December 5^th have been left unanswered by the PA.

 -         Even more strict censorship than “normal” has been imposed on the Palestinian newspapers and TV-stations since the “Petition 20”.

 -         Confiscating tapes from cameramen in Bethlehem (December  4^th) and refusing the media to cover demonstrations in Nablus (December 5^th). At Al Najah National University, journalists and cameramen were prevented from entering the university where 2000 students and citizens attended a rally on Sunday.

 -         Refusing to license peaceful demonstrations.

 -         Violently dispersing and suppressing peaceful demonstrations of solidarity with the signatories of the “Petition 20” (Nablus, December 5^th).

 -         Issuing threats of arrests.

 -         President Arafat is using the language of violence, by publicly challenging a poet in Bethlehem on Saturday 4^th  to shot him (Arafat) if he meant he had “betrayed” his people. The PHRMG protest against any attempts to introduce the ruling language of an army in the Palestinian civil society.

 -         Forcing, under duress, the Palestinian public figures and PLC members who signed the “Petition 20” to withdraw their previous public statements.

 -         Putting illegal pressure on the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to take measures against the PLC members who signed the “Petition 20”.

 -         Severely violating the freedom of speech and the right of every citizen to hold a public opinion by taking illegal measures against those who have spoken in public, thereby leaving the rest of the Palestinian people in great fear of their own security if they speak their mind freely.

 -         Spreading false information about Palestinian law and the basic rights of the Palestinian people by arguing that the arrest of the signatories’ of the “Petition 20” had nothing to do with the freedom of expression (Attorney General Khaled al-Qidra’s statement, December 1^st).

 The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) call for the immediate release of the detainees and for the immediate implementation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, before this issue starts to seriously embarrass not only President Arafat and the PA, but also the Palestinian people.

 For more information, contact the PHRMG office: Tel: 972 2 6262463, Fax: 972 2 6262378, E-mail: admin@phrmg.org