Challenge # 59 The PA strikes backIn response to the manifesto, the PA at once launched reprisals. It mobilized the local media, which accused the signers of violating Palestinian unity and spying for Damascus. Four of the signers at once withdrew their names. On November 28 and 29, five of the remaining signers were arrested: Dr. Yasser Abu Safiyyeh, Dr. Abed al-Rahim Kittaneh, Adnan Odeh, Dr. Afif Suleiman Aljudeh, and Ahmad Shaker Dudeen. The PA put them in the Nablus prison, where they started a hunger strike on December 5.Another three signers, Dr. Abed al-Sattar Qassem, Ahmad Qatamesh and Dr. Adel Samara were imprisoned in Jericho. Bassam Shak'a, former mayor of Nablus - a leading opponent of Israeli Occupation in the seventies and eighties, who lost both legs when the Jewish underground blew up his car - was placed under house arrest. So too was Waheed Hamdalla, former mayor of Anabta. The nine signers who belong to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) are immune from arrest, though they too, we shall see, have been targeted for violence. Petition of Support On December 1, prominent Palestinian personalities abroad, including
Professors Edward Said, Hisham Sharabi, and Naseer Aruri, launched a petition
of solidarity with the original twenty. They called for new elections to
the presidency and government. The local newspapers refused to publish
this document, but it has appeared on the Internet. So far about 2000 people,
among them 500 from the Territories, have signed it. (To add your name,
enter Crackdown on PLC signers On December 1, the PLC met in a special, closed session in Gaza. The purpose: to strip the signers of their parliamentary immunity. The press was not allowed in, and in protest, several PLC signers left the hall. After a stormy debate, 33 out of 50 representatives voted to form a committee to monitor the behavior of PLC members. That night, on returning from Gaza to his home in Nablus, PLC member Mu'awiyya al-Masri was shot in the leg. The Palestine Information Center accused the head of PA " military intelligence", Musa Arafat, of ordering the shooting. In Nablus 1500 Palestinians rallied in support of al-Masri (under the eyes of 800 police officers). The wounded man said, "What happened will not make me retreat - it will make me go forward". Yasser Arafat called for an investigation of the case, but nothing has turned up. Hanan al-Masu stoned On December 11, at 2:30 a.m., the Human Rights Coordinator of Birzeit University was attacked at her home. Someone threw a stone wrapped with the Petition of Solidarity into her window. When she went out to see who had done this, another stone hit her in the head. She remained unconscious for several hours. The beating of PLC member Abdel Jawed Saleh On December 16, Abdel Saleh was participating in a silent vigil outside the Jericho prison where three signers were detained. After half an hour an officer of the prison called him to come in. He acceded, thinking he would be allowed to visit the prisoners. Instead, he was led to a vacant room. A group of soldiers entered. Their commander asked him some routine questions, then suddenly flared up and began beating him, signaling the others to join in. Saleh's eyeglasses flew to the end of the room and his nose began to bleed. The beaters, he reported, also used something like a whip. Then they brought in a bucket of water and told him to wash his face. When he refused, they poured it over him and sent him back out to the demonstrators, who took him to the hospital in Ramallah. Six signers released The news of Saleh's beating changed the mood even among PLC members who had condemned the signers. Ten of them met in Ramallah, demanding that PLC speaker, Ahmad Qrei (Abu Ala) convene another special session. On December 19, the PA released six of the signers. Dr. Abed al-Sattar Qassem and Ahmad Shaker Dudeen (a Fatah member) remain behind bars. The press has reported that those jailed in Nablus had signed a pledge not to release statements without PA permission. Many Palestinians believe that with the beating of Saleh, the PA realized it had gone too far, and for this reason it had released six signers. Yet two remain in jail, and the PA is threatening to try all eight in the State Security Court. It appears, then, that the PA is merely pausing while it gauges the extent of its public control. In preparing this report, we received help from the following sources:
1. Hanthala Palestine, a global network dedicated to international law
and the respect for human rights. |