PRESS RELEASE

Released @ 1:00 hours GMT, 13^th December, 1998

PRESS RELEASE

ON THE EVE OF PRESIDENT CLINTON’S ARRIVAL IN GAZA

For the last two years, the peace process has suffered from clinical death as a result of the policies and stands of the Israeli Government. The Wye Memorandum aimed to bring the process back to life again. However, it is clear that the Israeli Government does not intend to apply the provisions to which it committed itself.

Throughout the last five years, human rights and the rule of law have been sacrificed for the sake of security and peace. Unfortunately, peace, security, and respect for human rights have not been achieved.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) warns against the dangerous deterioration in the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including Jerusalem. On Monday 14^th December 1998, Gaza will welcome American President Bill Clinton on his visit to Palestinian Authority controlled areas. This visit comes as a result of the agreement reached through the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The American President’s visit to the region coincides with the dangerous escalation of human rights violations resulting from Israeli policy and practice towards Palestinian civilians and areas. At the time that the American President is arriving in the area, Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers are on the fifth day of their hunger strike, which came as a last resort in light of the Israeli government’s insistence on refusing their release. This is a violation of the agreements signed by the Israeli government and contradicts the spirit of the peace process. An atmosphere of peace cannot prevail without the immediate release of Arab and Palestinian prisoners. It is illogical that the PLO (the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, including the prisoners) sign a peace agreement with the Israeli government to end the state of war while Israel keeps in captivity those who joined the PLO in order to resist the occupation. The lives of the prisoners in Israeli jails are at risk as a result of the practices of the Israeli Prison Service and the security branches. The current situation is intolerable due to the legalization of torture and the substandard prison conditions. The continuing detention of the prisoners can only mean that the Israeli government aims to hold them as hostages for political blackmail.

Israel has never been punished for its practices throughout the occupation, despite the fact that its actions were a grave breach of basic human rights and showed disrespect for the rule of international law.

Clinton’s visit comes at a time in which the excessive use of force is continuously applied by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. As the whole world watched on TV screens, Israel revived the activities of the undercover Death Squads, “the Musta’ribeen,” in an effort to combat the demonstrations against the ongoing detention of prisoners. These are the same squads that killed tens of Palestinian civilians in cold blood during the Intifada. As of last week, the number of Palestinians killed by the use of live ammunition by the Israeli forces against demonstrators had reached four and the wounded more than four hundred.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has escalated its settlement policy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through the expansion of existing settlements and the establishment of new ones. Israel is racing to change the facts on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to increase the number of Jewish settlers there in order to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Due to the Wye River agreement’s immense impact on the human rights situation and public freedom in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the PCHR has expressed several reservations in regard to the Wye River agreement. Human rights violations have become apparent to all in the aftermath of the agreement. Human rights cannot be sacrificed under any circumstances or with any justifications. On the contrary, true peace requires the respect and protection of human rights. No peace process will succeed as long as human rights are being sacrificed.

If the American President is serious about pushing forward the peace process, he cannot blend politics and human rights. Human rights violations perpetrated by Israel are crimes that are, more often than not, war crimes according to international law, most notably the 4^th Geneva Convention. Thus, those committing these crimes should receive no lenience or forgiveness. The American administration cannot continue to employ double standards with respect to the rights and freedom of the Palestinians. If the American administration wants to restore some of its lost respect, it must fulfill its international obligations toward the preservation of the bases of international law and human rights standards. The world looked forward to the promise of a better day for human rights when the British Court decided to extradite Augusto Pinochet to Spain for trial on the crimes he committed against the Chileans and other people. These crimes are not different from those committed by Netanyahu. We cannot wait for history to tell its tale. The facts on the ground force us to move immediately to stop the efforts to eradicate the rights of the Palestinians as a people and as individuals.

The CIA’s active involvement in the peace process poses serious dangers to the security of Palestinians. The CIA has a long and unpleasant history of overseeing human rights violations throughout the world. At precisely the same time that the Wye River agreement was being signed, new facts were coming to light about what the CIA knew about human rights violations in Honduras and how early it knew about such violations. Nevertheless, the organization turned a blind eye. Here, the CIA (as a representative of the American government led by President Clinton) and Israeli government will be active partners in demanding the incarceration of Palestinians. PCHR expresses its very grave concern that, at the very least, the CIA will be an active element in circumscribing Palestinian rights and freedom. At the worst, the CIA will conceal its knowledge of human rights violations of detainees and may play a role in pressuring the Palestinian Authority to violate human rights.

The treatment of Palestinian prisoners is of the utmost concern to PCHR. We are acutely aware of the dangers posed to supporters of opposition groups at this time. Their rights must be maintained and respected. It is simply unacceptable for the Palestinian Authority, at the command of Israel and the CIA, to be required by some absurd notion of peace to run roughshod over locally and internationally guaranteed human rights. PCHR will closely monitor any new waves of arrests carried out by the Palestinian Authority.

PCHR requests that President Clinton does not employ double standards and that he puts the utmost pressure on the Israeli government in order to bring it into compliance with international will – a will that has long agreed to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Furthermore, President Clinton must pressure the Israeli government to guarantee respect for human rights and the implementation of the principles of international law as a prime condition for any just peace in the region.

PCHR encourages the Palestinian Authority to respect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Furthermore, it demands an immediate end to the practices of the Israeli occupation, so as to enable the Palestinian people to practice their legitimate rights, especially the right to self-determination and to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.