Severe human rights violations in intra-Palestinian clashes

2007 saw an increase in human rights violations committed by Palestinians against Palestinians, both in number and severity, as a result of the violent struggle waging between Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The violence peaked in June, when Hamas seized control of the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip.

From the beginning of the year to mid-November, at least 344 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in the fighting between the factions. B'Tselem's figures indicate that at least 73 of the dead, 22 of them children, were not taking part in the hostilities and were killed during street fighting or from gunfire during demonstrations. Some three hundred of the dead were killed in the first six months of the year, the vast majority of them in the Gaza Strip. 160 persons were killed in June alone. The casualties occurred during violent clashes between members of the Palestinian Authority's security apparatus, most of whom belong to Fatah and are loyal to Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, and Hamas militias, headed by the Hamas Executive Force and the 'Iz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Media reports and investigations by Palestinian and international human rights organizations indicate that in the weeks leading up to the Hamas takeover of the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, the organization's militias abducted several senior members of the Palestinian Authority's security forces and executed them in cold blood without trial. Other PA security officials who were abducted were tortured. In some instances, they were shot in the legs as "punishment" before being released.

After the Hamas takeover, the street battles came to an almost complete halt. The ruling Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, headed by deposed PA prime minister Isma'il Haniyeh, has imposed an oppressive regime against its critics, especially those identified with Fatah. The Executive Force carries out arrests daily. The prisoners are held for a number of days and no charges are filed against them. Amnesty International has taken many testimonies from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have been arrested in this manner, and the victims report being ill-treated and tortured.

The Executive Force has frequently broken into the homes of Palestinians in search for weapons in the hands of opposition members. The militias have used excessive force in dispersing demonstrations in the Strip over the past few months. The gravest use of excessive force occurred on 12 November in response to a Fatah demonstration in Gaza City commemorating the death of Yasser Arafat: seven Palestinians were killed, including a twelve-year-old boy.

During the week before and the week after the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip, Fatah militia forces in the West Bank, spearheaded by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, carried out revenge attacks against persons and institutions identified with Hamas. Here, too, abductions and executions took place, as well as torching and shooting businesses and charitable institutions linked with Hamas. In late June, these attacks diminished, only to pick up again to a lesser degree in the following months, especially in the Nablus District. In the weeks preceding and following the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip, the PA's security forces failed to take any action against the militias in the West Bank .

In June, PA security forces in the West Bank - the Preventive Security body in particular - carried out mass arrests of Hamas supporters suspected of trying to establish a branch of the Executive Force in the West Bank . Arrests continued, in smaller numbers, in July and August. According to Amnesty International and the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, most of the arrests flagrantly violated Palestinian criminal law, ignoring requirements such as the prosecutor-general reviewing the matter within 24 hours, the suspect being brought before a judge within 72 hours, and the right to consult with an attorney without delay. Most of the persons arrested were released without charges brought against them, reinforcing the concern that the arrests were arbitrary and political. Some of the persons arrested reported to Amnesty International, PHRMG, and B'Tselem that they were ill-treated and tortured during their time in detention.

At the end of August, the head of the Palestinian Authority's emergency government, Salim Fayad, decided to close 103 religious, educational and charitable organizations linked to Hamas. He contended that these institutions operated in violation of the Non-Profit Organizations Law. Based on the timing of the decision and its sweeping nature, it appears that like the mass arrests, this decision was made for political reasons.