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Volume 1, Issue
11
February-March, 2004
In this Newsletter:
About The Prism Group
The Prism Group continues to focus
on human rights issues in the Middle East. It is pleasing to
note that several topics that we brought to attention of opinion
leaders in our various reports are now surfacing in the general
public debate.
The Rights of Palestinians – A Different Approach
In the past
few weeks there have been reports of increasing tension within
the Palestinian Authority (PA). Demands for financial, political
and social reform have been met with resistance from the old
guard, who continue to reap the rewards of the Intifada.
Meanwhile, it is the average Palestinian who is left behind.
Below are five different kinds of denigration, often ignored by
the western media.
a)
Financial
Mismanagement
It was
recently reported that Chairman Arafat hastily exited from a
meeting, where Prime Minister Mohammed Querei had remarked that
the European Union has joined demands that PA police salaries
must be paid by bank deposit rather than in cash. It seems that
the Palestinian leader may eventually compromise here, thus
limiting the amount of money that can be skimmed off to pay for
other expenses.
In the
words of Mr. Christopher Patten, the European Commissioner for
External Affairs, “EU Direct Budgetary Assistance…. serve to
finance the PA public expenditures in general…” As it is donor
money which makes up the bulk of payments to the PA police, the
EU must be very relieved that at least some of its contributions
can be
better accounted for at last.
While the EU sends
approximately 20 million euros to the PA and sister
organizations every month to support education and other social
needs, a recent BBC investigation stated that the PA is
using some of the money to pay members of a Palestinian militant
organization, which has been responsible for carrying out
homicide attacks. According to the newspaper “Scotland on
Sunday”, Feb. 29th, The World Bank has now issued an ultimatum
to the PA: Put an end to rampant corruption or lose hundreds of
millions of pounds of vital foreign aid. The Bank’s top official
in the region, Nigel Roberts, confirmed that the Palestinians
were receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the
history of foreign aid.
b)
Deliberate Social Deprivation by “Friends”
On February 27, 2004,
Reuters reported that people living in PA controlled areas are
becoming increasingly critical of their leaders. This supports
previous comments from the AP, late last year, that the Arab
world is manipulating the Palestinian cause to the detriment of
the people themselves. Reported again in the “LA Times”, on
January 4, the article states that most Arab countries have
denied citizenship, jobs and education to anyone claiming
Palestinian ancestry. The article quotes 35-year-old
Mohmoud Zahar: "We can't own a house, land or get a loan from
the bank, despite the fact that I was born here (in Egypt) and
have no idea what is Palestine”. A Cairo-based Palestinian
writer, speaking in the same article says: "The language of the
(Arab) governments and media is in one direction and the real
practices on the ground are totally the opposite.”
Hisham Youssef, spokesman for the
22-nation Arab League, acknowledged that Palestinians live 'in
very bad conditions,' but he said the policy is meant 'to
preserve their Palestinian identity’. “If every Palestinian who
sought refuge in a certain country was integrated and
accommodated into that country, there won't be any reason for
them to return to Palestine,” AP reported.
Jordan would be a clear exception to
this pan-Arab policy, where Palestinians are granted full
citizenship and rights. As a result, except the 13% living in
UNRWA camps, Palestinians are being progressively integrated
into Jordanian society without international welfare subsidies.
c)
Denial of
Basic Political Rights
Late in
January 2004, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Institute for the
Study of Democracy organized a two-day conference. The PISD is
calling for the implementation of political and economic reforms
in the PA, criticizing how the PA was handling negotiations with
Israel. Some members lashed out at corruption and demanded major
reforms in Fatah and the PA. Speakers included legislators,
university teachers, political analysts, human rights activists
and even Fatah leaders.
d) Coping
with the Israeli Army
In Israel, a
military tribunal has found an army officer guilty of negligence
in the October 2002, as a result of which a Palestinian teenager
died. According to Reuters, a
statement from the military spokesman's office explaining the
decision blamed the officer in the death of Ali Zaid, 16, of
Nizlat Zaid, a village near the West Bank city of Jenin. It said
that the officer, identified by the Israeli media as a captain,
had fired at a wall to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators and
that the bullet went through a window, hitting Zaid. He later
died of his injuries. The court found "clear negligence," in the
officer's behavior, the statement said.
e) A
Breakdown of Society
On Feb.
28/04, the BBC reported that the Mayor
of Nablus has resigned in protest
at a rise in lawlessness. “Ghassan
Shakaa accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to take
action to stem rising violence in the city”.
Mr Shakaa,
who is considered an ally of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat,
complained he was frustrated at watching Nablus descend into
chaos. Shakaa said that his resignation was a “warning bell” to
the PA because they are not doing anything for the city. In
Nablus, the police have become ineffective and the streets are
not safe from the increasing strength of local gangs.
Shakaa’s remarks may have been a harbinger. On March 1st,
Reuters reported from Gaza that gunmen had killed “a prominent
adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. According to
witnesses, unknown assailants gunned down Khalil al-Zebin, 59, a
veteran journalist who advised Arafat on human rights and media
issues.
Palestinian journalists have recently staged protests demanding
that the Palestinian Authority investigate a recent series of
attacks against them in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It is clear
that Palestinian suffering is not merely a result of Israeli
action, as is so often crudely and simplistically reported in
the media. The Palestinians deserve a democratic leadership,
which will be responsive to the needs of its electorate and
outline the way to reform.
Freedom of the Press
Attitudes
toward the press seem to have taken a turn for the better in
Egypt, reports the BBC News, Feb. 23, 2004. President Mubarak
has been quoted as saying that he will rescind the law that
allows journalists to be imprisoned for libel, defamation or
insults.
In a speech
to participants at a journalists’ conference, which was read by
the Information Minister, the Egyptian president reiterated his
support of press freedom but also criticized foreign demands for
reforms in the Middle East. Egypt, along with other Arab
countries, is under increasing pressure from the US to take
steps to improve their human rights records.
Women's rights
in the Middle East
Emboldened
by the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women are pushing for
political freedoms many of them have never enjoyed. Women,
secular and religious, from all ethnic groups, are running for
office and demanding a fair share of representation in a
country, where they make up 60 percent of the population.
Yet new religious activism in Iraq has aggravated traditional
attitudes about women's roles. The 18-member committee drafting
the new constitution does not include any women. The council
recently passed a nonbinding resolution calling for Shariah, or
Islamic law, to govern family issues, which will damage the
rights of Iraqi women.
This tale of events fits in with recent academic research. Forty
years ago, write professors Phyllis Chesler and Donna Hughes in
FrontPageMagazine.com (Feb. 24), American women launched a
liberation movement for freedom and equality. “Today, women's
economic and social participation is considered a standard
requirement for a nation's healthy democratic development.”
However, according to these eminent professors, today Islamic
fundamentalism threatens women all over the world. “Wherever
they have gained power, Islamists have denied women their
essential humanity and dignity.” They cite the exponential
growth of the global sex trade as an example.
In another article on the same subject, Professor Hughes says:
“A measure of Islamic fundamentalists’ success in controlling
society is the depth and totality with which they suppress the
freedom and rights of women. In Iran for 25 years, the ruling
mullahs have enforced humiliating and sadistic rules and
punishments on women and girls. Joining a global trend, the
fundamentalists have added another way to dehumanize women and
girls: buying and selling them for prostitution. According to
the head of the Tehran province judiciary, traffickers target
girls between 13 and 17, although there are reports of some
girls as young as 8 and 10, being sent to Arab countries.
The Prism Group Website
Please visit
our site and help direct others to the existing fact sheets. If
you have ideas for fact sheets that you believe we should
investigate and compile, please write to us at:
info@theprismgroup.org.
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