France, Canada, Australia, the UK and other Western countries that recently pledged to recognize a Palestinian state have said that their decision is "predicated" on commitments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to undergo critical governance reforms, as well as excluding the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group from a future Palestinian government.
None of these countries, however, has demanded that the PA halt its human rights violations against its own people. Ending financial and administrative corruption and excluding Hamas from governance is pointless as long as the PA continues to crack down on its political rivals and impose severe restrictions on freedom of speech.
The Western countries continue to ignore statements by Palestinian human rights organizations regarding the PA's violations. These countries, obsessed with Israel, turn a blind eye to Palestinians' complaints against the PA, which controls large parts of the West Bank.
According to the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain, the PA's torture of its own people includes beatings with cables, pulling out nails, suspension from the ceiling, flogging, kicking, electric shocks, sexual harassment and the threat of rape.
The international media also ignore the situation. Their representatives prefer stories that implicate only Israel. It is hard to remember the last time a respected newspaper or media outlet in the West reported about human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority against its citizens. The failure of the international community even to notice such violations plays into the hands of the PA, and allows it to continue its crackdown on public freedoms and political activists in areas under its jurisdiction.
Recently, a committee representing families of Palestinians detained by the PA complained that their sons were being subjected to "severe torture" in prisons and interrogation centers.
The committee noted in a statement that the PA security forces are using "harsh and systematic methods against detainees that threaten their lives."
This universal indifference has led to a deterioration in the health of a number of detainees, requiring their transfer to hospitals for treatment, the committee said. "Among them is political prisoner Mohammed al-Hashlamoun, who was transferred to hospital less than 48 hours after his arrest in Jericho prison."
As long ago as 2022, Human Rights Watch reported that the security forces of both Hamas (in Gaza) and the Palestinian Authority routinely taunt and threaten detainees, and use solitary confinement and beatings. These include whipping their feet, and forcing detainees into agonizing stress positions for prolonged periods, such as hoisting their arms behind their backs with cables or rope, as well as inflicting excruciating pain on critics and political opponents to elicit confessions.
The PA's notorious Jericho Prison, dubbed "The Slaughterhouse," is known as a center for extreme abuse. Suha Jbara, a mother of three, who was held in the prison on charges of "collaboration" with Israel, recounted her experience:
"They [PA security forces] took me to an unknown place.... When we entered an office, the person asked me: 'Do you know where you are?' I told him: 'I'm in the General Investigation [Department].' He replied: 'No, you are in the Jericho Slaughterhouse.' Then they took me to the Jericho Hospital for a pregnancy test, although I was undergoing menstruation."
Jbara said she was then taken back to prison, where she was blindfolded and handcuffed.
"The interrogator started threatening me. He told me that from my face he could tell that I'm a collaborator [with Israel]. He threatened to take away my custody over my children. He said he knows how to beat me without leaving signs on my body. The interrogation and beating lasted all night."
Ahmed Harish, another Palestinian who was held in Jericho's "Slaughterhouse," testified:
"For the past week, I have been beaten all over my body, my hands tied in all kinds of positions that leave my back bent or my hands hung above me, and they leave heavy objects made of iron and bricks on my legs."
Last week, the Palestinian Committee of Detainees' Families said that "the continued policy of political detention and torture constitutes a crime and a flagrant violation of Palestinian law and international human rights conventions."
In June, Palestinian human rights groups reported that Ahmed al-Safouri, a Palestinian from the West Bank's Jenin Refugee Camp, died as a result of "horrific torture," in a PA detention center. According to the groups, the death of al-Safouri "was not an isolated incident, but rather represents a stark illustration of the suffering of hundreds of political detainees [in PA prisons] who are subjected to grave violations during their arrest and interrogation."
Amnesty International quoted former Palestinian detainees in 2022 as saying that they had been whipped on their feet and repeatedly beaten with clubs.
Last month, Palestinian Authority security officer Ammar Saeed Abu Thahri reportedly died while in PA custody. It remains unclear why Abu Thahri was arrested by PA security forces in the first place. His family accused the PA security forces of torturing their son:
"We mourn our son who was betrayed by the [PA] oppressors and passed away. We hold the [PA] Military Intelligence responsible for his arrest and torture and call for the formation of a serious and impartial investigation committee to uncover the circumstances of the incident and hold all those involved accountable. This crime must not go unpunished."
The Palestinian human rights group Lawyers for Justice said that the PA security forces have stepped up their crackdown on political opponents. "We are currently monitoring the cases of 17 detainees held by the Palestinian Authority," the group revealed. "Most of the arrests were related to freedom of expression or participation in demonstrations in solidarity with the Gaza Strip."
Lawyers for Justice pointed out that Palestinian Authority security officers who beat political activist Nizar Banat to death in 2021 have still not been punished. Banat, an outspoken critic of the PA leadership, was beaten to death by PA security officers in Hebron. Although a number of officers have been formally charged, they have been released from prison, while their trial has been repeatedly delayed.
The group stated:
"The trial proceedings have remained at a standstill since the start of the court sessions in September 2021 amid unjustified procrastination and suspicions of a lack of seriousness, particularly after the defendants were released within a year of the crime. We have documented hundreds of cases of arrest, torture, and ill-treatment of activists and political opponents since Nizar's killing. Since October 2023, 22 Palestinians have been killed [by PA security forces]. Those involved in most of these crimes have not been held accountable."
If France, Australia, the UK and Canada really cared about the Palestinians, they should be demanding that the PA respect public freedoms and stop its crackdown on political and human rights activists.
The last thing the Middle East needs is another Arab dictatorship run by corrupt leaders whose main goal is to batter their own people while siphoning off still more European and international aid money into their own bank accounts.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
