The Palestinian Authority: Silencing the Opposition

Khaled Abu Toameh
Hudson New York
27 August '10

As the Palestinian Authority is about to launch direct talks with Israel in Washington, its Western-trained security forces are preparing to silence the voices of political opponents and critics.

The crackdown is seen as a blow to all those who were hoping that the Palestinian Authority, whose survival is dependent on American and European taxpayers' money, would be different from the rest of the Arab world's repressive and autocratic regimes.

While it's true that the Palestinian Authority has been successful over the past few years in improving the economy in the territories under its control in the West Bank - largely thanks to generous donations from the West and an easing of Israeli security measures - the Palestinians are nevertheless far from achieving democracy and a free media.

What happened in Ramallah this week should serve as an alarm bell to those who are pouring billions of dollars on this authority without insisting on real political and financial reforms, democracy and transparency.

Dozens of undercover Palestinian policemen and intelligence officers stormed a hall where political activists were preparing to hold a press conference to denounce the Palestinian Authority's decision to negotiate with Israel unconditionally.

Just as the press conference was about to begin, the intruders started shouting slogans in support of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction. Then they started beating and threatening participants, forcing the organizers to call off the conference.

When the organizers tried to launch an impromptu street march to protest against the assault and the US-sponsored peace talks, they were dispersed by force by another group of policemen under the pretext that they were part of an "illegal gathering."

Two cameramen working for the Ramallah-based private Al-Watan TV station were beaten by Palestinian intelligence officers who also confiscated their tapes.

(Read full article)

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