The Palestinian National Authority (PNA)

The humanitarian situation of the PNA has been gradually degenerated on January, 2006 since Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist movement instituted in Gaza by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987, won the legislative elections. During 2007, the conflict between the Fatah and the Hamas keeps on growing, when in last June it reached his peak in 4 days of fights in Gaza, which gave the Gaza Strip to hand of the Hamas, causing the dissolution of the government by the president, Abu Mazen. In this occasion, 116 persons have being killed and about 2000 harmed. The acts of violence between the factions renewed last October and culminated with the tragedy of November 12. On that day, during the manifestation organized in Gaza by Fatah on the occasion of the Arafat memorial anniversary, Hamas forces shoot on the crowd, killing 6 persons. The spread of the violence brought Amnesty International to publicize recently a report “Occupied Palestinian Territories: Torn apart by factional strife”, which accuse the crimes and abuses from both sides. During the fights, repeatedly occurred rough executions, armless civilian's assassination and shootings inside hospitals. On June 10th, Hamas captured Muhammad Swairki, a cook for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard. He was thrown to his death, with his hands and legs tied, from a 15-story apartment building in Gaza City. The same day, Fatah's fighters arrested a Hamas supporter, Muhammad al-Ra'fati, and killed him by throwing him from another building. On June 11th, Hamas' men assaulted at Beit Lahiya, Jamal Abu al-Jadiyan house, an important Fatah official, shooting him to death publicly in the street.

Since Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, torture of convicts, attacks against protestors and threats toward journalists became most common practice. In the West Bank, the Fatah keep arresting pro-Hamas people, violating any legal procedure. The Journalist Protection Committee attests that the local reporters are being often threaten or attacked by groups for favorable communication to the opposed fraction. The blood feuds keep being a continued threat to the stability in the Territories. They are most likely related to the leadership corruption than to conflict with Israel and are under the international public opinion eye mostly since the assassin of Moussa Arafat in Gaza in 2005. In the Strip, the Army of Islam, a group linked to Al-Qaeda and to the Palestinian clan of Dughmush, in last March kidnapped and kept as a hostage for 5 months the BBC journalist Alan Johnston.

A high percentage of capital punishments is held on behalf of the accusation of collaborationism with the Israeli enemy. There are no registered executions during 2006. There is a reduction of the punishment up to 6 months for “honor crimes” (a murder by a relative of a woman who has adopted “filthy” sexual behavior) and for rapists who agree to marry their victims. Local NGOs claim that in 2007, 50 honor crimes were carried out. The latest one was in the end of October in Qalqilya, of Wafa Wahadan and the sisters Sima (27) and Eman (25) Mohammad Ali El-Adel, who have been killed by their relatives for “dishonor” the family.

The homosexuals, like in other Arab states, are afraid to come out in public for death risk, even from their own family that can feel dishonored. The term “Palestinian homosexual” has become a synonym of collaborator with Israel, due to the fleeing phenomenon to Israel, where they can live as homosexuals, but facing problems because of the lack of legal status. Shaul Gannon, from the GLBT association of Tel Aviv, has personally handled with more than 1000 cases of young homosexual Palestinians arrived in Israel without anything. Only 60 of them accepted Gannon's help in facing all the bureaucracy of being accepted by Israel or to emigrate abroad. Most of them know it can be very dangerous for them to receive a help from Israeli, if one day they will be back in the PNA. The “Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group”, founded and lead by Dr. Bassam Eid, gives a support in the ANP's Territories also to these people.

In the last October 7th, Rami Ayyad, the manager of the only one store of Christian books in Gaza, was found murdered with tortures signs. In the past he was accused by Islamic groups for being practice missionary actions, and in last April his store was burned, as well as other places considered close to the western culture, such as the American school and internet café.