Palestinian leaders crush dissent, watchdog group says

Spokesmen for territories dispute allegations as inaccurate

Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have established police states that routinely arrest and torture their opponents, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

The New York-based group found similar practices by the Palestinian Authority, which has governed the West Bank for 25 years, and Hamas, the militant Islamic movement that took over Gaza in 2007, according to a report released Tuesday in Ramallah.

“The attacks by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas on dissidents and demonstrators, reporters and bloggers, are both systematic and unpunished,” Tom Porteous, deputy program director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. The report called on the European Union, U.S. and other donors to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to suspend financial aid to “specific units or agencies implicated in widespread arbitrary arrests and torture” until those practices are curbed and those responsible are held accountable.

Spokesmen for both territories denounced the report as inaccurate.

Human Rights Watch said Palestinian forces often threaten, beat, and force detainees into painful or stressful positions for prolonged periods, even using cables or ropes to hoist their arms behind their backs.

Security forces also routinely coerce detainees into providing access to their mobile phones and social media accounts, it says.

Palestinians have gained “only limited power in the West Bank and Gaza, but yet, where they have autonomy, they have developed parallel police states,” Porteous said.