Hamas, Palestinian Authority deny charges in HRW report
A recent report by Human Rights Watch accuses authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip of arbitrary arrests and torture — charges that both sides reject.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report takes Palestinian leaders to task, documenting cases of systematic torture and unjustified arrests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The report published Oct. 23 accuses the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and its rival Hamas in the Gaza Strip of arbitrarily arresting and torturing their own and each other's citizens for mere peaceful criticism, especially on social media. Titled “Two Authorities, One Way, Zero Dissent,” the report documents that “security forces routinely taunt, threaten, beat and force detainees into painful stress positions for hours at a time.”
The report raised the ire of both the PA and Hamas. PA security services spokesman Adnan al-Dumairi said in an Oct. 23 press statement that the report, the result of two years of investigation, was politically motivated. He said HRW “relied on the testimonies of political rivals and adopted them as facts without investigating or fact-checking with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior.”
Iyad al-Bazm, spokesman for the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip, told The Gaza Post that the HRW report lacks “objectivity and accuracy” and “is far from the truth and reality in Gaza.” Bazm said that the ministry is ready to welcome a HRW delegation to the Gaza Strip to inspect all detention centers, jails and Ministry of Interior posts. “We have nothing to hide, and we are ready to cooperate completely,” he said.
