Michael de Laine

Hamas responsible for grave human rights abuses, UN should investigate - Amnesty International

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 12th February 2009

Hamas forces and militias in the Gaza Strip have carried out abductions, killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of ‘collaborating’ with Israel, as well as opponents and critics, says Amnesty. The organisation wants a recently announced United Nations investigation into attacks on UN installations in Gaza to be expanded to cover all alleged violations of international law - by Israel, by Hamas and by other Palestinian armed groups involved in the conflict.

There is incontrovertible evidence that Hamas security forces and armed militias in the Gaza Strip have been responsible for grave human rights abuses and that the victims of such abuses and many others are being intimidated and discouraged from testifying about their ordeal, human rights organisation Amnesty International on Wednesday.

“The Hamas de-facto administration has displayed a flagrant disregard for the most fundamental human rights norms, not only allowing such abuses to be perpetrated, but actually facilitating and encouraging the abuses by justifying them and by granting absolute impunity to the perpetrators,” the organisation added.

In a new report, ‘Palestinian Authority: Hamas’ deadly campaign in the shadow of the war in Gaza: Media Advisory’, Amnesty documents a number of concrete incidents of assassinations, knee-cappings, other shooting injuries to legs and beatings.

“Since the end of December 2008, during and after the Israeli military offensive which killed some 1,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, Hamas forces and militias in the Gaza Strip have engaged in a campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of ‘collaborating’ with Israel, as well as opponents and critics,” Amnesty said.

At least two dozen men have been shot dead by Hamas gunmen in this period, the organisation added.

“Scores of others have been shot in the legs, kneecapped or inflicted with other injuries intended to cause permanent disability, subjected to severe beatings which have caused multiple fractures and other injuries, or otherwise tortured or ill-treated,” Amnesty International said.

The human rights organisation added that the targets of Hamas’ deadly campaign include former detainees accused of ‘collaborating’ with the Israeli army who escaped from Gaza’s Central Prison when it was bombed by Israeli forces on 28th December 2008, as well as former members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and other activists of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

According to Amnesty, the campaign began shortly after the beginning of the three-week Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip on 27th December 2008 and continued after a ceasefire took effect on 18th January 2009.

“Most of the victims were abducted from their homes and were later dumped – dead or injured – in isolated areas, or were found dead in the morgue of one of Gaza’s hospitals,” said Amnesty. “Some were shot dead in the hospitals, where they were receiving treatment for injuries they sustained in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza’s Central Prison. The perpetrators of these attacks did not conceal their weapons or keep a low profile, but, on the contrary, behaved in a carefree and confident – almost ostentatious – manner.”

Amnesty said it is gravely concerned that – instead of taking steps to stop and prevent deliberate killings and other grave abuses being perpetrated by its forces and militias– the Hamas de-facto administration in the Gaza Strip is not only disregarding such abuses but is justifying and even facilitating and encouraging them.

In a press conference on 2nd February, Ihab al-Ghussein, a spokesperson of the Hamas de-facto administration’s Interior Ministry, rejected reports published in the previous few days by Palestinian human rights organizations about deliberate killings, abductions, torture and other abuses by Hamas forces and militias. He was quoted as saying that “anyone who was attacked should file a complaint and, if they are afraid as Fatah claims, I call on them to come to me in person to handle the issue.”

At the same press conference, Tahar al-Nunu, a Hamas administration spokesperson, was quoted as saying: “The government differentiates between abuses [of the law] and the actions taken by the resistance to protect itself from collaborators in times of war… There will be no mercy for the collaborators who have stabbed our people in the back.”

Amnesty said, “Such words are tantamount to a green light to target anyone outside the framework of the law and based on loose allegations of ‘collaboration’ with the Israeli army, without giving those targeted any possibility to defend themselves against such accusations.”

Amnesty International said its delegates on a field research visit to the Gaza Strip during and after the three-week Israeli offensive asked to meet with members of the Hamas de-facto administration in order to discuss these and other concerns.

A meeting was scheduled with al-Nunu for 1st February, but was cancelled by him at the last moment. No other meeting could be arranged prior to the delegates’ departure from the Gaza Strip.

Amnesty International wants the Hamas de-facto administration to:
- immediately end the campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats
- agree to the establishment of an independent, impartial and non-partisan national commission of experts to investigate human rights abuses committed by its forces and militias and any other parties, and cooperate with such a commission and allow it to carry out its work
- guarantee that victims, witnesses and others who testify or otherwise complain about human rights abuses will not be targeted, harassed or intimidated
- undertake to take the necessary steps to address the findings and recommendations of the investigation, which should be made public
- undertake to hold accountable those responsible for the abuses, according to internationally recognized fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty

The Amnesty researchers who visited both Gaza and southern Israel during the fighting and in its immediate aftermath found compelling evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, the human rights organisation said.

These violations “included direct attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinian civilians and civilian objects in Gaza, attacks which breached the prohibition on disproportionate attacks and the use of weapons, such as white phosphorus, which have indiscriminate effects when used in densely-populated civilian areas,” Amnesty said. “In the same period, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of indiscriminate rockets into civilian population centres in southern Israel.”

While welcoming United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s announcement on 10th February of investigation into attacks on UN installations in Gaza, Amnesty said the investigation must not be so limited as to look only at recent attacks by Israeli forces on UN schools, staff and property in Gaza.

“It is not only the victims of attacks on the UN who have a right to know why their rights were violated and who was responsible, and to obtain justice and reparation,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan. “What is needed is a comprehensive international investigation that looks at all alleged violations of international law - by Israel, by Hamas and by other Palestinian armed groups involved in the conflict.”

The human rights organization is urging the Security Council to support the call for a comprehensive investigation.

“The Security Council must live up to its responsibility to uphold international law and to ensure full accountability,” said Khan. “It should support a full and independent investigation that covers all attacks that may have violated the laws of war during the recent fighting in Gaza and southern Israel.”

Click here to read the Amnesty International document ’Palestinian Authority: Hamas’ deadly campaign in the shadow of the war in Gaza: Media Advisory’.