Arafat Forces Abuse Palestinians

 
     This is a critique of an article written by Alan Sipress which
appeared in the January 7 1997 Philadelphia Inquirer.

	In his article about the torture of 
Palestinians by Arafat's forces, Sipress 
quotes Amnesty International as saying that 
political pressure from Israel has 
"undoubtedly been a factor in encouraging" 
Palestinian security forces to crack down on 
critics of the peace process.  This casts 
blame on Israel for torture by the PLO.  It 
makes it sound like Israel has been demanding 
that the PLO torture critics of the peace 
process.  Bassam Eid director of the 
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group is 
quoted by Sipress as saying "It's learned from 
occupation" again making Israel responsible 
for PLO human rights abuses.  

	Sipress tells the story of Ahmed Salah 
who was imprisoned three times by the 
Israelis for throwing stones at soldiers and 
other resistance activities.  Ahmed was later 
arrested by the PLO police and beaten and 
tortured for four months.  Sipress never 
asked Ahmed to compare his experience  
in PLO prisons to that in Israeli prisons.


				Submitted by


				Mark Feinstein

	

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