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Amnesty International Report 2005 - Palestinian Authority

Covering events from January - December 2004

The internal security situation deteriorated significantly in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during 2004. Power struggles and disagreements between and within the Palestinian Authority (PA), and political factions and groups resulted in increasingly frequent armed confrontations, attacks on individuals and property, and abductions. Palestinian armed groups and members of various security services also killed some 18 Palestinians who allegedly "collaborated" with the Israeli security services. Members of Palestinian armed groups continued to carry out attacks against Israelis both in the Occupied Territories and inside Israel, killing 109 Israelis. The PA frequently condemned Palestinian attacks against Israelis and Palestinians, but the security forces and judicial authorities were unable or unwilling to prevent and investigate such attacks and bring those responsible to justice

Background

The al-Aqsa intifada (uprising), which started on 29 September 2000, continued. Some 700 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, many of them unlawfully (see Israel and the Occupied Territories entry). Palestinian members of armed groups killed 109 Israelis, including 67 civilians. About half of them were killed in suicide bombings, generally claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (an offshoot of Fatah) and the 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas). Some of the attacks were claimed by Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Palestinian armed groups also continued to launch mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip towards nearby Israeli cities and Israeli settlements inside the Gaza Strip, killing five Israeli civilians. Thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis were injured.

Palestinians were hindered or prevented from gaining access to their agricultural land, workplaces and education and health facilities by the Israeli army which set up blockades and imposed stringent restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and carried out repeated military raids into Palestinian towns and villages. The continued construction of a 600km fence/wall through the West Bank also cut off towns and villages from each other. As a result unemployment and extreme poverty remained high, with some two thirds of Palestinians forced to rely on international aid.

President Yasser 'Arafat remained confined to his headquarters in Ramallah until he fell ill and was taken to France for medical care. He died on 11 November. The Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Rawhi Fattouh, took over as interim President for a 60-day period and presidential elections were scheduled for January 2005.

Increased lawlessness

The PA security and judicial institutions, whose infrastructure had been repeatedly targeted and largely destroyed by the Israeli army in previous years, became increasingly dysfunctional and were themselves involved in factional in-fighting. The PA security forces' operational capacity remained severely limited; the Israeli army continued to prevent them from carrying weapons and operating in most areas of the Occupied Territories.

As central authority and control were increasingly eroded, disagreements, rivalries and in-fighting between political factions, security services and armed groups resulted in an increase in violent confrontations. Incidents included demonstrations, armed protests, abductions of and attacks on members of the security forces, PA officials and foreign nationals. Attacks and confrontations often involved different factions of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which increasingly acted independently of or against each other.

At least 13 people, among them international relief workers and PA security force officials, were abducted by armed Palestinians, most of them in the Gaza Strip. They were all released unharmed within hours. The kidnappers reportedly protested against widespread corruption, called for PA reforms, or demanded payment of their salaries. Journalists and media workers were threatened, beaten or abducted by armed men in what appeared to be an attempt to stifle independent and critical reporting, in particular concerning the internal political situation and allegations of corruption in the PA. In most cases, the attacks were not claimed by any group, but were believed to have been carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

• On 8 January the Gaza correspondent with the al-Arabiyya television station, Saifeddin Shahin, was attacked and beaten in Gaza City by five armed men who reportedly warned him not to criticize Fatah in his reports. One of the alleged attackers was arrested by Palestinian police but was subsequently released without charge.

• In February, gunmen burst into the offices of Chief of Police Ghazi al-Jabali in Gaza City and opened fire, killing one officer and wounding 11 others, one of whom later died.

• PLC member and former Information Minister Nabil 'Amr was shot in the leg by gunmen in Ramallah on 20 July; his right leg had to be amputated. He had criticized the PA's corruption, lawlessness and lack of accountability. No investigation was known to have been carried out, and no one had been arrested in connection with the attack by the end of the year.

Unlawful killings by Palestinians

Scores of Palestinians were killed in cases of political inter-factional fighting and score-settling. At least 18 others were killed by Palestinian individuals or members of armed groups because they were suspected of "collaborating" with the Israeli security services. At least five Palestinians were killed by gunmen while in PA custody. Most of the killings were attributed to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The PA consistently failed to investigate these killings and none of the perpetrators was brought to justice.

• Nineteen-year-old Shafi 'Ali Ahmad was abducted on 8 May by a group of armed men outside the shop where he occasionally worked in Kafr al-Dik village in the West Bank. His body was found the following day on the outskirts of the village. A communiqué signed by an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades group stated that he had been killed because he had "collaborated" with the Israeli security services. However, the group subsequently apologized for the killing and publicly announced that Shafi 'Ali Ahmad was not a "collaborator" and should not have been killed.

• On 2 July Muhammad Rafiq Daraghmeh was killed in Qabatiya in the West Bank by members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who accused him of "collaborating" with the Israeli security services and of sexually abusing his daughters. He was killed in the town square in front of a large crowd which had gathered after gunmen reportedly announced through loudspeakers that he would be killed.

Use of children by armed groups

Several children were involved in attacks against Israelis; two of them carried out a suicide attack inside Israel. Others were arrested by the Israeli army for their alleged involvement in such attacks. Palestinian armed groups have no declared policy of recruiting children and claim to disavow the use of children; some blamed such abuses on local cells acting on their own initiative or "collaborators" seeking to discredit the armed groups.

• In March Hussam 'Abdu, a 16-year-old boy with mental disabilities, was arrested at Huwara checkpoint, near Nablus, while wearing a suicide belt. The Israeli army had advance information about the case and had closed the checkpoint. The boy remained detained in Israel awaiting trial at the end of the year.

Detention, torture and ill-treatment

Some 750 Palestinians were held in Palestinian prisons or detention centres. Most were detained without trial, apparently in relation to criminal offences. About 115 were detained on charges of "collaborating" with the Israeli intelligence services. Most had been arrested in previous years. There were reports of torture and ill-treatment, including beatings and sleep deprivation, by various Palestinian security forces, mainly the Police Criminal Investigation Department and the Preventive Security Forces.

Death penalty

No executions were carried out, but at least eight people were sentenced to death. Three had been convicted of "collaborating" with the Israeli security services; the others were found guilty of criminal charges. By the end of the year at least 21 Palestinians remained on death row.

• On 13 April, Ihab Abu al-'Umrein, Rami Juha and 'Abd al-Fattah Samur were sentenced to death in a Gaza court for the rape and murder of 16-year-old schoolgirl Mayada Khalil Abu Lamadi in 2003. A fourth defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Violence against women

The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women visited the Occupied Territories in June to gather information on the impact of the occupation and conflict on women. She concluded that the conflict has disproportionately affected Palestinian women in the Occupied Territories, in both the public and private spheres of life. In addition to the women killed or injured by Israeli forces, Palestinian women were particularly negatively affected by the demolition of their homes and restrictions on movement, which hampered their access to health services and education, and by the sharp increase in poverty. The dramatic increase in violence as a result of the occupation and conflict also led to an increase in domestic and societal violence, while at the same time there were increased demands on women as carers and providers.

AI visits

AI delegates visited areas under the jurisdiction of the PA in May, September and October.