Israel and the Occupied Territories including the areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian authority: Human rights: a year of shattered hopes

The Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area was signed on 4 May 1994. In the year since, the human rights of the people of the Occupied Territories, including the areas under the Palestinian jurisdiction, have been violated with impunity. This report outlines AI’s main human rights concerns. The Israeli authorities have arrested more than 6000 Palestinians on political grounds and have held many of them without access to lawyers for up to 30 days and without access to families for up to 140 days. Following the killing of 22 civilians in October 1994 in a bombing in Tel Aviv, secret guidelines allowing for “a moderate measure of physical pressure” were apparently amended to give an “exceptional dispensation” to the security service during interrogation. Hooding, beating, sleep deprivation, position abuse and prolonged shackling during interrogation have been reported. Human rights have also been abused in the areas under Palestinian jurisdiction: hundreds have been arbitrarily arrested and illegally detained; detainees have been ill-treated and tortured and two detainees have died in custody.

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