Palestinian Group: Human Rights Abuses Increase After Fatah Ouster from Gaza

A Palestinian rights group is charging that human rights abuses have increased in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip since Hamas routed Fatah in Gaza last year. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights (PICCR) charges that both Fatah and Hamas “use the law as a tool to justify practices and policies each side uses to challenge the other.” The group says that the abuses include torture and the deaths of prisoners in detention. According to PICCR’s annual report, while 412 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2007, 585 were killed in factional fighting. It charges that not a single file was opened nor were investigations begun in the cases of any of 190 Palestinians – including women and children – who were killed in June 2007, the month during which Hamas took control of Gaza from Fatah. A representative of the ‘Abbas government responded to the report by saying that the two areas are not equal and that the Palestinian Authority under ‘Abbas has already made strides in combating abuse.