Palestinians Before the Military Court

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The Ramallah authority is putting a number of Palestinian officers on trial, accused of failing to confront Hamas during the fighting that took place in Gaza in June 2007. The Supreme Military Court in Ramallah held a session on September 13, 2007, at which the military prosecutor general presented a charge sheet alleging dereliction of military duty, based on an administrative law issued after the Gaza events, dated August 12, 2007. The court did not accept the charge because the legal basis cited was invalid, but gave the prosecutor a week’s grace period to bring a new charge sheet. A second session was held on September 30, 2007, in Jericho. I learned that at this session a new charge sheet was submitted, based on the so-called Palestinian Revolutionary Law of 1978, articles 202, 204…. Of course, had this law been applied consistently over time and according to standards of legal justice, many Palestinian leaderships would have been hanged from the gallows long ago.

…the senior leadership to the Egyptians’ house? All I heard was the name Sandra (whom I do not know, nor do I know her military rank) — she was the one who used to answer the officers’ telephones in Gaza, and she never gave satisfactory answers.

As a Palestinian, I ask (and this, in truth, concerns me more than anything): why are Palestinian officers who did not stand up to Hamas being tried, while other officers who do not stand up to the occupation are not tried? The occupation forces violate our cities, our villages, and our honor, day and night, in full hearing and sight of the Palestinian security agencies, without being confronted. Members of the Palestinian National Security force disappear the moment they hear that occupation forces are coming. The Palestinian Revolutionary Law was originally put in place to punish those who fail before the occupation and the Zionist enemy, and to punish those who collaborate with it, whether through espionage, normalization, handshakes, or even mere leniency. What has obstructed the application of this law since it was enacted, and why is it now being invoked as the basis for these trials?

What would you say if the Palestinian factions set aside their pettiness, at least temporarily, to make room for the Palestinian mind to work in an atmosphere of freedom and open horizons? Do you not see that these factions lead people not only into internal fighting, but also into drowning in ever more nonsense and trivialities? We need people who acknowledge their mistakes and get out of the way.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “فلسطينيون أمام المحكمة العسكرية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.