The United Nations and the European Union expressed concern on Tuesday (August 24) about a series of arrests by Palestinian security forces of activists, as the death of a major activist in custody triggered continued protests.
Since the death of Nizar Banat in June, demonstrators in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been demanding justice. He is the chief of the Palestinian Authority and its 86-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas. Critics, who died in Hebron in custody after security forces attacked his home in Flashpoint City, dragged him away.
The UN Human Rights Office stated that it is “deeply concerned about the continued pressure from those seeking to exercise their rights to freedom of speech and assembly in Palestine.”
It said that security forces arrested 23 people in Ramallah on Saturday on the grounds that “they were holding public protests”, but noted that 21 of them were “detained even before any protests started”.
It said that “it seems that more people have been arrested”, the target is “famous human rights defenders and political activists”, and it called for “the immediate release of these people without the need to bring charges against them”.
The Palestinian Authority did not immediately respond to criticism.
A statement from the EU representative in Jerusalem also condemned the weekend’s arrests, saying it was “in the context of reports that the Palestinian Authority’s apparently politically motivated arrests have increased in the past few months”.
The EU stated: “Violence against peaceful human rights defenders, activists and protesters is unacceptable.”
Nearly two dozen Palestinian civil society groups issued a statement on Monday warning of “dangerous decline in rights and public freedoms” and demanded that Prime Minister Mohammed Steyer be held accountable for “his failure to protect the rights of citizens.”
Opinion polls show that support for the Palestinian Authority and Abbas is still very low.
Abbas decided to postpone the elections originally scheduled for May and July indefinitely. This will be the first poll of Palestinians in 15 years. This has aroused people’s anger.
Abbas said that unless Israel agrees to allow voting in the annexed East Jerusalem, the election will not proceed. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem is the capital of their future country.
But Palestinian analysts said the president hesitated when his secular Fatah movement appeared to be failing.
Barnet’s death seemed to exacerbate the frustration.
The autopsy report found that he was beaten on the head, chest, neck, legs and hands, and the time from arrest to death was less than an hour.
His family described his death as an “assassin” and said it would reject the conclusion of the official investigation. Instead, it called for an international investigation.
