Ref: 41/2010

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is concerned
over the prevention by the Ministry of Interior of the organization of a sit-in
called for by the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), a workshop organized by the Independent
Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), and an activity organized by the General
Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) on the anniversary of Nakba (the
uprooting of the Palestinian people from their land in 1949) during the past
two days in the Gaza Strip.  PCHR
confirms that these measures constitute a violation of the right to peaceful
assembly, which is legally and constitutionally guaranteed under the
international human rights standards.

According to the investigations conducted by PCHR, at
approximately 12:00 on Monday, 24 May 2010, a police vehicle arrived at the site of an
UNRWA Summer Games’ camp in the Sheikh ‘Ejleen area, to the west of Gaza
City.  There, policemen prevented people
from gathering and participating in a sit-in, which was called for by PNGO to
support UNRWA and to condemn the attack carried out against the camp on Sunday,
23 May 2010.  Amjad al-Shawa, a PNGO
Coordinator, said in his testimony to PCHR that he had received a phone call at
approximately 11:45 from a person who identified himself as a staff member of
the police chief’s office. Mr. al-Shawa was informed that the police had
rejected PNGO’s notification to the police to organize a sit-in on the camp’s
site in the west of Gaza City.  Mr.
al-Shawa added that he explained to the caller that it was too late to cancel
the sit-in, as the participants had already arrived at the area; however, Mr. al-Shawa
was told only to immediately evacuate the area.

At approximately 10:45 on the same date, Mr. Jamil Sarhan, Director
of the Gaza Strip Program in ICHR, received a phone call from a person who identified
himself as a member of the Internal Security Service.  The caller asked Sarhan to cancel a workshop titled
“The Reality of Rights and Freedoms–a Review of ICHR’s Report for 2009,”
which was scheduled to be organized at 11:00 in Grand Palace Hotel, claiming
that ICHR had not obtained a license from the Ministry of Interior.  Earlier, at approximately 10:30, the
administration of the Grand Palace Hotel received a phone call with the same message
of canceling the workshop, explaining that if it were not, the hotel would be held
accountable.

Similarly, at approximately 15:50 on Monday, 23 May 2010, a Palestinian police
force banned an activity organized by GUPW on the anniversary of Nakba
at the Agricultural Society’s hall in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza
Strip.  Mrs. Amal Hamad, Coordinator of
GUPW, stated to PCHR that the Union organized the activity on the anniversary
of Nakba as part of a series of activities held by the National Work
Commission to commemorate the 62^nd anniversary of the Nakba
in closed places after obtaining permits from the government in the Gaza
Strip.  However, the police prevented GUPW
from holding the activity, claiming that the organizers did not obtain a
license from the Ministry of Interior.

PCHR is gravely concerned over such practices, and:

1. Calls upon security services
   and the Ministry of Interior to stop the unjustified intervention in
   public freedoms and to respect the right to organize public and private
   meetings, which is guaranteed legally and constitutionally;
2. Reiterates that the Executive Bill
   of the Public Meetings Law issued by the late President Yasser Arafat, in
   his capacity as acting Minister of Interior, contradicts the Public
   Meetings Law and the Amended Basic Law of 2003.  PCHR reiterates its call for the abolishment
   of the Executive Bill, or its amendment so as to conform with the Law. The
   Bill states that organizers of a meeting must obtain a written license
   from the police chief—unlike the law, which states only that they must
   inform the governor or the police chief about the meeting; and
3. Confirms that private meetings
   and similar activities held in closed places are not included in the
   Public Meetings Law (No. 12) of 1998. 
   Private meetings can be held without the presence of policemen,
   according to article 26(5) of the Basic Law, which provides that “private
   meetings shall be held without the presence of police officers, and public
   meetings and gatherings shall be held within the scope of the law.”