With great concern and anger, “SHAMS” Center is following the accelerating and continuous waves of repression of the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and public rights and freedoms, which began about two months ago after the killing of the political activist” Nizar Banat”. This incident created a wave of angry reactions that did not stop, and despite the shock of the incident, the security response to its consequences is no less bad, as the suppression of peaceful assemblies, attacks on participants and arrests of activists continues, in a chain of repression that is still expanding more and more.
Last of these repressive acts was on Saturday, August 21,2021, when the Security forces prevented citizens from organizing a peaceful assembly in Ramallah, calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable in the case of political activist Nizar Banat. The security forces deployed in large numbers and arrested so many citizens participating in the peaceful assembly, and they are about (15) citizens.
On the following day on Sunday, August 22, 2021, and despite all forms of widespread condemnation and denunciation, the security forces arrested another 5 citizens of demonstrators during the peaceful assembly called by activists to protest the previous arrests and to demand justice in the case of the killing of political activist Nizar Banat. Some of the detainees were released later on while others remained in detention, including writers, academics, poets and freed prisoners. This brings the number of detainees since May to about 130.
“SHAMS” Center considered these acts and events as a very clear expression of a systematic and institutionalized repressive mentality, as the matter has been no longer individual acts for a long time, and this is confirmed by the acts of the Palestinian government at the policy and legislative levels, the latest of which is the abolition of Article 22 of the “Code Behavior and Public Service Ethics” that allows employees to express their opinion, in an explicit expression of the integration and intersection of the system of oppression.
“SHAMS” ” Center stresses that the statements of the police force that: “What was called by the movements to gather in the center of Ramallah without an official permission from the official authorities to hold the assembly, and a group of the movement refused to sign the conditions for the assembly ” reflects the wrong and dangerous understanding of the right to peaceful assembly and its guarantees by law enforcement agencies, as Law 12/1998 on public meetings did not provide for permission, but rather stated in Article (3) of it: “Public meetings are entitled to hold public meetings provided that written notice is given to the governor or the police chief of this at least 48 hours before the date of the meeting,” while Article (4) of the same law indicated that: “A written notice shall be submitted, signed by the persons organizing the meeting, provided that their number shall not be less than three indicating the place and time in which the meeting will be held and its purpose, in the case that the written notification is submitted by a legal entity, the signature of its representative is sufficient. Without prejudice to the right to meet, the governor or the police chief may set controls on the duration or course of the meeting stipulated in Article (3) with the aim of regulating traffic, provided that the organizers are informed of these controls in writing no later than 24 hours after the date of delivery of the notice. In the case that the organizer does not receive any written answer as stipulated in the previous paragraph, the organizing body has the right to conduct the general meeting on the specified date in accordance with what is stated in the notice.” This confirms that the law requires notification only, not permission and authorization, and only for the purposes of providing organization Traffic and paths by the security authorities, as well as the duty to provide security and protection for demonstrators, which is in accordance with the amended Basic Law (the Interim Constitution) and the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, to which Palestine acceded without reservations on the first of April 2014. What makes the dispersal, repression, arrest and its justification a violation shameful for the Basic Law, specifically Articles (26), (19) of it and the international legal obligations of the State of Palestine.
“SHAMS” Center places these events in their general dangerous context, as the state of emergency has been unconstitutionally extended for more than a year under the pretext of confronting the Covid-19 pandemic, under which human rights have been violated more than once, and is currently being used politically for more Control of the public space, since in ordinary legislation there is enough and more to confront the pandemic, and the state of emergency has not been lifted despite the decrease in the epidemic curve, which we have previously warned against is that the state of emergency will be perpetuated and used for repressive political goals.
According to what “SHAMS” Center has monitored, the systematic violations of the right to peaceful assembly include: arbitrary arrest, summoning, or detention of participants in peaceful assemblies by the security services and physical and psychological torture. The members of the security services beat and dragged the participants in the peaceful assemblies, preventing the holding of a number of peaceful assemblies, obstructing participants access to meeting places, and dispersing peaceful assemblies by excessive force and illegal violence and dispersing their participants. These are practices that are close to becoming systematic. In addition to the emergence of new repressive patterns, such as the theft of the phones of activists and journalists and extortion of them, and the return of the participation of security elements in civilian clothes in the repression of the facade, in a total, applied and suspicious disregard for all the recommendations of the investigation committees that had previously been formed in similar events to draw lessons and prevent the recurrence of practices.
“SHAMS” Center draws the attention of the political system, that repression and security solutions will not work, but will lead to more tension, which will lead to the explosion of the situation in a destructive manner for everyone, and will cause more and severe damage to the Palestinian National project, and threaten civil peace. It is more appropriate for the pillars of this system to think carefully and clearly about achieving just demands, as it is the easiest and least costly way to defuse the crisis.
“SHAMS” Center calls for full respect by law enforcement agencies of the Palestinian Basic Law (the Interim Constitution) and the International Conventions, treaties and covenants to which the State of Palestine has acceded, especially the two International Covenants on Human Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, press, political action, professional and trade union activity, and freedom of physical and psychological integrity. With the need to express all this in behavior, deed and practice through the immediate release of all detainees for peaceful assembly, expression of opinion or practicing political and trade union work, and holding all those involved in the series of violations witnessed in the West Bank in recent weeks accountable to ensure that violations are not repeated in a serious and practical manner achieving private and public deterrence.
In the end, “SHAMS” Center stresses the need to immediately form a committee for national dialogue that includes representatives of civil society, national movements and forces, political parties, in addition to people from civil and security official bodies, independents, intellectuals and academics to immediately start a comprehensive national dialogue that leads to perceptions and solutions that would get out of the crisis on the basis of democracy, respect for rights and freedoms, and holding general elections.