PA official says PA yielding to gunmen in surge of abductions

[Behind the Aegis]

Rather than fight them, Palestinian officials have been negotiating deals with those behind a wave of kidnappings, and the lenience is worsening the chaos left behind after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip, according to a senior Palestinian security official.

Citing the example set by Iraqi insurgents, gunmen are increasingly resorting to kidnappings to get jobs, break relatives out of jail or settle personal scores. Gaza and the West Bank suffered 31 abductions in August and 44 in September, according to official statistics.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' reluctance to crack down on crime appears driven by the same fear that has prevented him from going after militants: he doesn't want to unleash a battle he could easily lose.

A top Abbas aide, Rafiq Husseini, denied the authorities were giving in to kidnappers' demands. However, the security official as well as a militant and a human rights activist all said otherwise. "No one is ever held accountable," said Raji Sourani, a prominent human rights lawyer in Gaza.

....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/636907.html

[Englander]

1. 'Kidnapping'?

">snip

The foreign hostages have generally been treated well and released quickly.

American reporter Dion Nissenbaum and British photographer Adam Pletts, seized in Gaza, were served dates, tea and a rice-and-meat dinner. During their 6 1/2 hours in captivity the hostages watched TV together with their captors, who gave them a baseball cap with the group's logo as a farewell present.

"Our captors were young and friendly. One wanted me to find him a wife in America. Another said he was a teacher with three kids. A third couldn't have been more than 22 or 23 and made sure that we were as comfortable as possible," Nissenbaum, a reporter for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, said in an e-mail account to colleagues."

[Englander]

2. As Raji Sourani is mentioned in the article-

here's an interview with him, from 1999, I think;

" bio - Raji Sourani is Gaza’s foremost human rights lawyer, and the founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and former director of the Gaza Center for Rights and Law. In the 1980s, Sourani was widely recognized for his effective defense of Palestinians before the Israeli military courts. In connection with his defense work, Sourani was four times held in detention by the Israelis, beaten and subjected to mental and physical abuse. Sourani has represented Palestinians facing deportation and closely monitored detention and prison conditions. Reaching out to Israeli human rights organizations, he formed links regarded with suspicion by fellow Palestinians but which proved to be effective in the pursuit of human rights. He was detained by the Palestinian Authority in 1995, following statements critical of their establishment of a state security court. Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles by the Government of Israel and the PLO, and the establishment of limited Palestinian self-rule, Sourani has advocated strict adherence to international standards for the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. And despite the danger of repercussions, he is an outspoken critic of human rights violations committed by both sides. In his bold and principled stance, Sourani has won wide respect, and has been recognized by numerous international organizations for his courageous work.

Kerry Kennedy

Interview -
We Palestinians are living in a highly complicated situation, which is unprecedented in modern history. Six years after the signing of the Oslo Accords, what we are experiencing in the occupied territories is a system of de facto apartheid, developed under the auspices of peace. We are nearly a forgotten people, consigned to a second-class existence. We are far from practicing our right of self-determination and independence.

After fifty years of conflict, and thirty years of occupation in the Palestinian Territories, the Oslo Accords were signed nearly seven years ago by the government of Israel and the PLO. These accords were intended to provide a transitional interim arrangement for a period of five years as a means of moving towards a final resolution of the conflict. The basic philosophy behind the accords was that they were designed to serve two main purposes. The first was to develop a setting in which trust could be built between the two sides; the second was to develop a framework in which to resolve the final status negotiations within five years. It is clear that trust between the two sides has not improved, and in fact, in some areas are at an all-time low. Furthermore, the final status negotiations did not even begin within the five-year interim period, which ended on May 4, 1999.

http://www.speaktruth.org/defend/profiles/profile_19.asp#