Palestinian Authority facing unprecedented wave of protests
The violent death of activist Nizar Banat has Abbas on the defensive, with Hamas and Israel as his fallback targets
Akil Awawdi was hoping earlier this week to cover a protest in Ramallah by families of political activists detained by the Palestinian Authority security forces. But what the journalist, some of his colleagues and the protesters experienced is being described by Palestinian human rights activists as “Black Monday.”
Shortly before 5 p.m., dozens of security officers sealed off all entrances to the center of Ramallah and prevented Palestinians from holding another protest against the death of anti-corruption activist Nizar Banat, a prominent critic of the PA.
The death of Banat, who was beaten to death by more than 20 PA officers who raided his home in Hebron on June 24, has triggered an unprecedented wave of protests in the West Bank.
By the beginning of this week, it was clear that the PA leadership was no longer prepared to tolerate the street protests, especially chants denouncing PA President Mahmoud Abbas and calling on him to step down.
It was evident that the officers who were deployed in the center of Ramallah had received strict orders to ban any form of protest. Several Palestinian activists who tried to gather in the center of Ramallah were quickly detained by the security forces.
Later that evening, the families of the detainees arrived at a PA police station in the nearby city of El-Bireh to demand the release of their sons, husbands and fathers.
Awawdi, who works for the Palestinian radio station 24FM, was one of four journalists physically assaulted by the officers, who used pepper spray and clubs to disperse the families.
Recounting his experience, Awawdi wrote on his Facebook page: “They hit me on the chest next to my heart, in which I hide a great love for the country and its people. They dragged me on the ground for which we die every day to keep it dignified and honored. Dozens of legs and batons left marks on every part of my body. I screamed at the top of my lungs: I am a journalist! I did not even take pictures of them, because I feared for myself and my people from the horror of the scenes that I witnessed with my own eyes.”
Awawdi said that the police officers then dragged him into the station, where the beating continued. After realizing that his blood pressure had dropped, the policemen summoned an ambulance and ordered him transferred to a hospital.
Visibly shaken by the police violence, Shawan Jabarin, director of the Al-Haq human rights group, said during a press conference: “Regrettably, the Palestinian leadership and security forces insisted on resorting to brutal action by assaulting those who were demanding the release of those who were protesting against arbitrary arrests. The families were chanting slogans against political arrests. They did not chant anything else. It seems this slogan provoked the Palestinian leadership. I believe that what happened tonight was not the result of an order by the local police commander.”
Jabarin said that he called PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to complain about the assaults on the protesters.
“He told me that he was surprised to hear this,” Jabarin recalled. “He told me he will follow up on the matter, but afterwards his phone was shut.”
Jabarin said that he personally witnessed the police assault on the protesters. “What is very painful and shameful is that the security forces were attacking people and dragging them on the ground. I saw this with my own eyes. They were dragging women by their hair, including Dr. Dima Amin and engineer Nadia Habash. They kicked them and beat them with batons. It was a horrifying scene. One of the officers threatened to beat me, too.”
According to Jabarin, the behavior of the PA security forces should “scare every Palestinian who cares about his or her homeland.”
SHTAYYEH HAD good reason to switch off his mobile phone.
The assault on the protesters and journalists came hours after Shtayyeh announced during the weekly meeting of the PA cabinet that the PA respects freedom of expression and the work of journalists. He also promised that previous assaults by Palestinian security officers on female protesters and journalists “would not happen again.”
For Shtayyeh, the police violence against the protesters, in clear violation of his statements, came as a serious embarrassment. It also raised questions as to whether he has real influence over the PA security forces. As interior minister, he is also in charge of the PA security forces.
But everyone in Ramallah knows that these forces also receive direct orders from the office of the PA president and, in some instances, from the Fatah leadership in the West Bank.
And as interior minister, Shtayyeh also bears responsibility for the death of Banat at the hands of the PA security officers. Two weeks after the death of Banat, it remains unclear who gave the order to raid his home and why the PA security forces were sent to arrest an activist who had repeatedly criticized Shtayyeh in a number of Facebook posts.
The secrecy surrounding the circumstances of Banat’s death has prompted many Palestinians to question the seriousness of the investigation launched by the PA government into the incident.
A committee headed by PA Justice Minister
Mohammed al-Shalaldeh to investigate the death of the activist presented its findings to Shtayyeh, but did not publicize them.
Talal Dweikat, spokesman for the PA security forces, said that 14 officers have been referred to the judicial system for their involvement in the death of Banat.
It’s not clear, however, whether the officers have been arrested. It’s also not clear which security force they belong to and who ordered them to raid Banat’s home and why.
What is interesting is that the justice minister announced that his committee interviewed members of the Banat family who were present when the security officers entered their home.
The family, however, denied the minister’s claim and said that no one from the PA government or security forces contacted them after the incident. The family and a number of human rights organizations have called for an international investigation, saying they have no confidence in the PA’s committee of inquiry.
The family and Banat’s friends, in addition, have published photos and names of a number of PA security officers who allegedly participated in the assault on Banat.
OBVIOUSLY, THE PA leadership did not anticipate the uproar over the death of Banat. Nor did it expect many Palestinians to take to the streets and social media platforms to condemn the PA for its repressive measures against protesters and journalists and call on Abbas to step down.
The chants of Palestinian demonstrators on the streets of Ramallah and Hebron in the past two weeks were reminiscent of those sounded by Arabs during the so-called Arab Spring more than a decade ago.
Palestinian political activists and human rights advocates are now referring to the PA as a “police state” and “dictatorship.”
One activist, Abu Shaker Milhem, went as far as saying that the Palestinians would be better off living under Israeli “occupation.”
“Bring back the occupation,” Milhem said. “Our people are no longer able to pay the price of two occupations [by Israel and the PA]. Yes, we want to return to the days before the 1993 Oslo Accords, which have become a new nakba [catastrophe] for our people.”
PA officials, meanwhile, are convinced that their political rivals are behind the widespread protests as part of a “plot” to undermine the Palestinian leadership and “serve foreign agendas and the interests of Israel.”
The officials claim that the protests are not spontaneous.
They are accusing Hamas, ousted Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan, an archrival of Abbas based in the United Arab Emirates, and the PLO’s Marxist-Leninist groups, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as the Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir, of driving the anti-PA protests.
“Many of the protesters and journalists are affiliated with these parties,” said one official. “They are exploiting the case of Nizar Banat to incite against President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership. Like Banat, the demonstrators and journalists are extremists who oppose any peace process with Israel.”
This assessment reflects the state of denial in which the PA leadership in Ramallah is living.
The PA leadership has failed to see that there is a new generation of Palestinians that wants regime change and a say in the decision-making process.
Indeed, many of the Palestinians who have been protesting the death of Banat are affiliated with extremist groups that reject the Oslo Accords and any form of normalization with Israel.
It is also true that many of the protesters did not take to the streets out of affection for the activist as much as out of disgust with the old guard of the PA leadership.
As far as many Palestinians are concerned, Abbas’s decision to call off the Palestinian parliamentary election that was supposed to take place on May 22 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. For them, the decision provided further proof that the Palestinian leadership remains insensitive to the demands of the Palestinian public, including the right to elect new representatives and leaders.
Even if the PA succeeds in quashing the current uprising, it is already clear that it has lost whatever is left of its credibility and legitimacy among the Palestinians.
Under the current circumstances, it is hard to see how the PA would be able to resume any peace process with Israel. As the events of the past two weeks have shown, a fast-growing number of Palestinians consider the PA dead in the water. They want to see heads rolling. They are unlikely to stop until Abbas complies either by firing Shtayyeh or holding a public trial for the security officers who were involved in the death of Banat.
Meanwhile, all that remains for Abbas and the PA leadership is to redirect the anger on the Palestinian street toward Israel. Sure enough, PA and Fatah officials have begun talking about the need to ensure that the “compass remains directed against Israel.” This is how Abbas and his people hope to rid themselves of the current crisis.
But while the crisis is new, the tactics are old: point the finger of blame at Israel.