Adam Entous and Alastair Macdonald
Forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas are rounding up suspected Islamist activists and allegations of torture and abuse of legal procedure are mounting sharply. One man recounted an ordeal last month in a Palestinian prison in Hebron where he was forced to hang or stand for hours in "stress positions." The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights logged 28 alleged cases of torture and ill-treatment in November in the West Bank, compared to 26 cases in the first half of 2008 and 40 from July to October. Hamas says 700 of its members are being held in the West Bank. Fatah says 100 of its members are currently being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Rights groups say most complaints of abuse involve Preventive Security and General Intelligence, which operate jails separate from the EU-trained police and U.S.-trained Presidential Guard and National Security force. Ramiro Cibrian-Uzal, the EU envoy to Israel, dismissed suggestions the West Bank was turning into a police state and offered high praise for what he termed Abbas' "counterterrorist" forces, saying: "They are doing great."
(Reuters)
