Palestine Think Tank

Sunday, March 14 2010 – The European Union, US war criminal General Keith Dayton, the Egyptian and the Jordanian regimes, are all jointly responsible for the torture of Palestinian prisoners at the PA jails. Dayton is the de-facto head of the corrupt PA repression system; his forces taught the PA thugs numerous kinds of torture and how to violate the rights of political detainees.

US agents are complicit together with Palestinian officers at the PA jails in these criminal activities; also, the EU has trained the corrupt police forces of the PA on how to arrest and torture political opponents. Britain, the US and the EU have invested hundreds of millions of pounds, dollars and Euros, respectively, to support the corrupt regime of the PA in the occupied West Bank. These funds were used to rebuild the corrupt PA repression system, not to help the people in any way or fashion. Recently, over 1200 political prisoners were jailed by the PA. Among them are teachers, engineers, students and … union leaders, etc. The PA also recently kicked out over 2000 teachers from the ministry of education in the West Bank from their jobs; many of them have been jailed, interrogated and tortured by the Dayton thugs at the PA jails.

The Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) in Britain confirmed that the PA did not stop for one moment in the practice of torture in its prisons, since it declared a cessation of torture in the beginning of October 2009. The organization said in a report issued on Tuesday, in addressing the conduct of security services after the announcement to stop torture in its prisons, “The Palestinian Authority is using new methods in the torture which are more severe in addition to the old methods." And the number of new techniques in the torture report exhibited greater severity along with the older methods and basic treatment for many Palestinian victims of this torture.

The (AOHR) indicated in its report, that they sent letters to the Prime Minister of the caretaker government in Ramallah, Salam Fayyad, in order to allow a delegation from the organization to visit detention centers in the territory of the Palestinian Authority, but they never received a response.

It is understood concerning the Palestinians in the West Bank under the occupation, who are protected by the Geneva Conventions and rule of international law, that any attack on any of their rights and particularly the right to life, liberty and physical integrity is a breach of international law.

The group said that the occupation authorities are guilty, on a daily basis, of dozens of violations of law against the Palestinian citizens including: murders, arrests, torture, confiscation of land and demolition of houses, and the security services of the Palestinian Authority are complicit with these violations, including: arrest, torture and abuse of civil institutions and public freedoms, all clearly with the criminal aim to destroy the morale of the people and its legitimate resistance undertaken for the sake of freedom and self-determination.

They emphasized that the Palestinian Authority security services' cooperation with the Israeli authorities reached an unimaginable level of criminality at the expense of the dignity and life and freedom of the Palestinian citizens, adding that the Palestinian Authority's security services – led by Dayton and connivance from the European Union and the CIA – whose agendas and policies were implemented purely for Israeli motives,  transformed the lives of the Palestinian citizens into a living hell.

The (AOHR) also confirmed that the West Bank has become a springboard for the activities of foreign intelligence agencies through which to provide espionage support and logistical support to security agencies for the implementation of external operations against Palestinian militants by unlawful operations outside the occupied territories.

They stressed that the file of human rights violations in the Palestinian Authority territory are under close scrutiny as also the response of the decision makers in the European Union, and that this file will take the direction of more in depth revelation than that of those responsible for these violations of international justice.

The organization pointed out that the Director of General Intelligence, Major General Majed Faraj and military intelligence official, Brigadier General Abu Nidal and the head of Preventive Security, General Ziyad Hab al-Rih, are directly responsible for the arrest of citizens and torture of Palestinians in centers located outside the control of the law. The organization considers that every officer or soldier of various ranks carried out torture or illegal detention and are responsible for their actions as perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Nor is the top leadership exempt from this.

The organization pointed that President Mahmoud Abbas, as president of the Authority, is directly responsible for the acts of its employees and the General Intelligence and Preventive Security is responsible for serious violations of the law that are committed against Palestinian civilians.

The human rights organization pointed out that the Jordanian Government is also responsible for serious violations committed by the Palestinian Authority security services, where the government trained elements of these services in all the tactics and security thereof and provided the necessary equipment for them. The organization called on the Jordanian government to immediately stop the training of Palestinian security services.

The file follows the arrest and torture, movement by movement, in Palestinian prisons, and demands the Authority Stop the Torture Involved and the deception carried on to divert the world’s attention from what is going on in the detention centers.

The organization called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Ocampo, to move immediately and prosecute for the aggravated suffering of the Palestinians under occupation, whether or not in detention, for torture and humiliation. Also, that these crimes be declared as crimes against humanity and violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and within the jurisdiction of the Court.

The European Union demanded an end of support for the security services until it is resolved and consolidation of a police based on the Palestinian citizens' rights and which do not serve other agendas is brought about.

The organization also called upon the Presidency to set up a committee of legal experts and specialists in the field of Human Rights to investigate human rights violations in the territory of the Palestinian Authority and to work hard to stop Torture and Unlawful Arrests. In addition, the organization called upon the European Police Mission to withdraw from the territory of the Palestinian Authority.

The organization called on U.S. President Barack Obama to withdraw Gen. Keith Dayton, and end the mission of American Intelligence in the territory of the Palestinian Authority, and to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.