Palestinian human rights are the worst ever, not because of increased Israeli security measures, but inflicted by the hands of their leader.

By Israel Today

In one of its more recent reports on human rights in the Palestinian-controlled territories, the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights said the situation had reached an all-time low, but not because of Israel.

Hamas prepares 3 Gazans before execution- Source: Israel Today

While the advocacy group does routinely lambast Israel for security measures that inflict hardships on average Palestinians, the reason highlighted for the worsening human rights was corrupt and abusive governance by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

The report revealed that over the past year, hundreds of Palestinians had been tortured by both the Palestinian Authority in the so-called “West Bank” and Hamas in Gaza. Several people in both places died while incarcerated, and Hamas openly executed some 16 prisoners during last summer’s Gaza war based on charges that they had aided Israel.

The head of the commission, Ahmad Harb, noted that such violations of human rights had “increased in volume” annually. Nevertheless, such violations rarely receive coverage in the international media that tries to paint the Palestinian Authority as a “moderate” force and a genuine peace partner for Israel.

Earlier this year, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) updated its own reported titled “Hidden Injustices” that painstakingly documents the Palestinian Authority’s state-sponsored abuse of human rights.

“Sadly the Palestinian people have been (and remain) subject to numerous, severe violations of basic (human) rights —not primarily at the hands of Israelis, but from their own leaders,” read the report, pointing out that despite this situation “the Palestinians received aid exceeding 15 times the amount per person granted by the US Marshall Plan for the post-World War II reconstruction of Europe.”

Headed by Adv. Calev Myers, an Israeli human rights lawyer, the JIJ has presented this and other reports to parliaments around the world, as well as initiated “Palestinian Human Rights Week” on numerous university campuses, all in an effort to wake the world up to the true violators of Palestinian human rights.

View original Israel Today publication at: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/26705/Default.aspx