Ref:
45/2011
The
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the violent dispersion by
Palestinian security services of a peaceful demonstration organized in Hebron
on Sunday, 15 May 2011. The demonstration was on the 63rd
anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba – the uprooting of the Palestinian people
from their lands in 1948. Human rights defenders were prevented from carrying out
their work and materials relevant to their work were confiscated. PCHR calls
upon the government in Ramallah to respect the right to peaceful assembly and
public liberties, which are ensured under the constitution and international
human rights standards.
According
to investigations conducted by PCHR and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, on Sunday at
approximately 12:00, 15 May 2011, numerous Palestinian police and security
officers were deployed at al-Zawia Square in the old town of the southern West
Bank town of Hebron. They prevented dozens of participants from marching towards
Area B, which is under full control of Israeli forces, in commemoration of the
63rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The police and security officers used force
to disperse and drive the demonstrators away from the area. A number of demonstrators were violently
beaten. Additionally, police and
security officers confiscated a camera from Hisham Sharbati, a journalist and a
field worker for al-Haq, and prevented him from reporting on these
incidents.
Security
officers also confiscated the mobile phone of Manal No’man al-Ja’bari, a field
worker from B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories, while she was photographing a security officer beating a
young female student. A person wearing
civilian clothes approached al-Ja’bari and introduced himself as a police
officer. He took her mobile phone and
deleted all the photographs from the phone’s memory. He then prevented her from working in the
area.
In
light of the above:
1) PCHR
calls upon the government in Ramallah to seriously investigate attacks on
participants at the peaceful assembly in Hebron.
2) PCHR
emphasizes that the right to peaceful assembly is ensured under the Palestinian
Basic Law and international human rights standards.
3) PCHR
calls upon Palestinian security services to respect international human rights
standards, the Palestinian Basic Law and relevant laws.
