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Press Release

PCHR director participates in press conference held by FIDH in Paris

Ref: 117/2002

Date: 5 October 2002

Director of PCHR Raji Sourani has participated in a press conference arranged by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in Paris to highlight the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and the large scale human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians.  Dozens of journalists, reporters and news agencies participated in the press conference.  Lawyer Michelle Tobiane, Edris al-Yazmi, Secretary General of FIDH, and Antoine Bernard, Director of FIDH, also participated in the press conference. 

Speakers in the press conference asserted that certain practices carried out by the Israeli Army against Palestinian civilians in the OPT are war crimes. In addition they expressed the FIDH position that rejects these Israeli practices and asserted that FIDH will struggle with all available means at the international level in general and the European level in particular in solidarity with the Palestinian people.  Furthermore FIDH expressed their support for the Palestinian people’s struggle for their right to self-determination and an independent state, as well as their intention to prosecute Israeli war criminals.

Tobiane, al-Yazmi and Bernard emphasized that they will continue their campaign at the European official level and in the UN to highlight this subject as a part of their efforts to activate article 2 of the Euro-Israeli Association Agreement, which calls for respect for human rights.  Tobiane talked about the trial of Marwan Barghouthi, and called on all European human rights organizations and many international lawyers and European parliament members to follow the trial and its development, in coordination with the Barghouthi’s defense committee, since it is a symbolic case of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails.  Trobiane described Barghouthi’s arrest as kidnapping, and asserted that his trial is illegal.  He also discussed the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Director of PCHR Raji Sourani provided an assessment of the human rights situation in the OPT.  He spoke in detail about the practices used by Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians, asserting that local and international human rights organizations must agree on their position towards Israeli crimes and what should be done against Israeli war criminals and the Israeli occupation.  He asserted that two years after the beginning of the second Intifada, and despite daily human rights violations and the deterioration of economic and humanitarian situation in the OPT, the Palestinian people are resolute and will continue the struggle until the Israeli occupation is defeated.

Sourani talked about the current living conditions of Palestinians, asserting that the situation in the OPT is disastrous but that the worst has yet to be brought to light due to US legal and political protection of Israel.  Sourani warned of the continuation of Israeli violations, emphasizing that the European silence over Israel’s failure to abide to the requirements of the Euro-Israeli Association Agreement and its unopposed violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention only encourages Israel to continue its policies and commit more crimes. 

Furthermore, Sourani discussed the feasibility of conducting elections under the current conditions imposed by the Israeli occupying forces, including the total siege, large scale campaigns of arrests and extra-judicial assassinations.  He asserted that elections can not be free, fair and truly democratic unless appropriate conditions are provided.  He asserted that putting an end to the current situation, including Israeli violations, will pave the way for the establishment of a democratic electoral process. 

Sourani also addressed the case of Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmed Sa’adat, pointing out the role the West had played in laying the foundation for his detention.  This demonstrated a lack of sincerity in western calls for an independent Palestinian judiciary.  Sourani argued that the independence of the judiciary is a legitimate right of Palestinians, but restrictions imposed on the free movement of judges and lawyers, and the destruction of jails, police stations and the Palestinian Authority institutions, cannot possibly constitute a prelude for an independent Palestinian judiciary. 

At another level, Sourani participated in a symposium held at the French Association for Human Rights, the biggest human rights body in France, in cooperation with FIDH, Amnesty International in France, as well as dozens of solidarity organizations and committees for the Palestinian people.  Sourani spoke in detail about the human rights situation in the OPT and its impact on the living conditions of Palestinians.  He emphasized that the Palestinian people are highly appreciative of the European popular solidarity campaign behind them, and how vital its role was in breaking the conspiracy of silence often practiced against them.  He continued to highlight the need for the campaign to organize itself, putting a clear strategy for progress forward at the European level, since with their solidarity, Palestinians will be able to raise their voices, reveal Israeli practices and crimes, and change their position with Israel and its policies through pressuring European governments and parties.          

Sourani held intensive talks with the French Bar Association, in which he addressed the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the duty of French lawyers towards the suffering of their Palestinian colleagues and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.  Also during his stay in France, Sourani met with directors of the Middle East Department and international cooperation in the French foreign ministry. 

In Dublin Sourani met with Shin Loff, Director of Amnesty International in Ireland, and Marry Lulor of Front Line Defenders.  He also met with director of the Middle East Department and the legal advisor of the Irish foreign ministry. 

In Brussels Sourani held meetings with the office of the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Chris Patten, the director of the OPT Department at the European Commission, head of international relations at the European Parliament, as well as the Democratic Socialistic Party and the Christian Democratic Party. 

During these discussions, Sourani asserted that despite practices by Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinians in the previous two years of the Intifada, Palestinians are trying more than ever to resist the Israeli occupation and to achieve their right to self-determination by establishing an independent state.  He also indicated that the Palestinian people will demonstrate that Israeli occupying forces, despite the crimes they have perpetrated, have failed to achieve their goals in the region, in particular their security objectives. 

“End”