The Judiciary of Palestinian Self-Rule

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The author of this article is among the Arab writers most subjected to repressive measures by Arabs and Israelis alike in the modern era — shot at repeatedly, once struck by four bullets, denied employment in Jordan and Palestine, arrested repeatedly by both the Zionist entity and the Palestinian Authority, placed under house arrest, and banned from travel. Whoever wishes to write about the arbitrary measures Arab writers and intellectuals are subjected to will find in this writer the very embodiment of every kind of persecution.

Once again, for the seventh time, the Palestinian Authority arrested this writer, on February 2 of this month, on the grounds of his defense of the necessity of applying the laws in force, issued by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority.

The “Al-Quds” satellite channel, which broadcasts from Beirut, conducted an interview with me on the Palestinian situation, in which I called for reviving two Palestinian laws: the PLO’s revolutionary code, issued in 1979, and the election law, issued in 2005, which limits the term of the Palestinian Authority’s presidency to four years only.

There are texts in the Palestinian revolutionary code stating that anyone who spies for Israel, cooperates with it, or obstructs the work of the revolution’s forces against it is punishable by death, and so on, and I stated this text on air, even though this revolutionary code remains in force to this day, and some members of the Palestinian security apparatuses who fled Gaza before Hamas’s forces in 2007 have been held to account under it — yet most people, including some jurists, know nothing about it.

As for the Palestinian election law, it renders the current president of the Authority illegitimate, since his term has been exceeded by seven years. Abbas’s presidential term ended in 2009, and we are now in 2016 — meaning he is now no longer what might be called a “senior official.”

It seems the pillars of the Palestinian Authority were alarmed and terrified by drawing attention to these two laws, since they violate the provisions of these laws, and the president of the Authority violates the election law — which is why they decided to manufacture a crisis through the official “Palestine TV.” Palestine TV proceeded to obtain a copy of my interview with Al-Quds TV and broadcast clips from it that would be difficult to verify as evidence.

The channel hosted a sheikh to issue a fatwa expelling me from the fold of Islam, and a university professor to expel me from the fold of scholarship. Neither of them read the texts of the two laws to viewers, contenting themselves instead with heaping the accusation that I was calling for the president’s execution by death — which the program’s coordinator also focused on, insisting I was falsely claiming to be a political analyst and a so-called “professor.” It is clear my scholarly accomplishments do not please her, and we pray to God she develops scholarly enough to help fill the gaps on Arab library shelves.

The truth is I never called for anyone’s killing or execution, since that is a matter for the courts, not for me — my argument was that nations that do not respect the law cannot stand on their own feet or attain freedom. Of course, the poor anchorwoman insisted on heaping accusations and directing questions aimed at diminishing my scholarly standing, even though Palestinians have in fact been executed in Lebanon under this very law, for spying for the enemy.

As for the arrest itself, I was aware the Palestinian Authority would move to arrest me, and I was ready, especially since my prison clothing bag is always kept ready. While I was at my front door on February 2 of this month, I was surprised by a Palestinian police car stopping in front of my house. Three policemen got out and attacked me, saying: “Give us your ID, give us your cell phone, and come with us.”

I asked them to wait a little so I could inform my wife, Zain al-Nisaa, of the arrest, bring my arrest bag, and lock the door, but they refused, acting with utter arrogance. It was urgent that I speak with my wife, because we are a family exposed to attacks by thugs, bullies, and regime shabiha, and if she could not reach me, she would wander about deeply worried and confused. In any case, they refused — even though the Zionist officer who arrested me in 2014 provided every accommodation for me to speak with my family.

The interrogation was the second phase, and the deputy prosecutor, Mr. Subhi Halawa, a resident of the Jenin camp, leveled three charges at me: undermining the prestige of the state, spreading false news, and defaming senior officials — meaning the president of the Authority.

Regarding undermining the prestige of the state, I denied the existence of a Palestinian state — what exists is merely a self-rule authority with no prestige at all. As for spreading false news, it turned out the deputy prosecutor was referring to a piece of news published by one of the Authority’s own officials about foiling 200 Palestinian attempts against the Zionists. As for the third charge, I said it was baseless, since we have no “senior officials” in Palestine, as there is, legally speaking, no president of the Palestinian Authority.

This deputy prosecutor also refused to let me speak with my wife, and after the interrogation ended, he asked the police to allow me to call my wife, but the police did not obey the order, and I remained without contact.

As for Zain al-Nisaa (Umm Mohammed), she called me on my cell phone and got no answer, and returned home alone. She found the front door open, and searched for me in vain. She began asking the neighbors, and no one could tell her where I was. She grew deeply suspicious, especially given that we are under threat, as I said. My daughter Mays broke down in tears, and our neighbor searched the house, and found a locked room, breaking down the door thinking I might be inside, dead.

Tension rose further with my absence from the room, and then my wife remembered the security cameras placed around our house, and checked them, seeing on screen the police car and its officers. Several satellite channels then broadcast footage of the Palestinian police publicly caught in the act of assaulting a Palestinian who was not being treated as a citizen.

The third phase involved being placed in prison. They took me to the criminal prison in the city of Nablus, because they always work diligently to avoid acknowledging the existence of political prisoners, out of fear of the reaction of certain European states. They placed me in a cell with prisoners held for bounced checks.

The cell was very filthy, foul-smelling, and packed with detainees. Its sanitary facilities were unsanitary, and it was impossible for someone praying to purify himself there. As for cockroaches, they roamed the cell freely, and one even crawled into my ear while I slept.

It is important to note that the Palestinian police officers’ treatment of me during the days of my arrest was kind and decent, and none of them tried to mistreat me — these men reflect the true Palestinian character.

The Nablus court held a session to extend my detention, presided over by Judge Abdul Rahman Hussein, with the attendance of Deputy Prosecutor Yasser Hijazi. We learned before the judicial session convened that my detention would be extended by 15 days. The judge rejected the request for release on bail and extended my detention by 15 days to complete the investigation, even though the deputy prosecutor had told me the investigation had already concluded.

Extending detention is the judge’s own authority, not the authority of any other party, but it seems there is an authority higher than the judiciary’s, whose orders the judge must abide by. How can a judge accept the extension of a defendant’s detention decided outside the courtroom? This, unfortunately, happens in Palestine. As for Deputy Prosecutor Yasser Hijazi, he came to court without the case file, so the defense lawyer had to present the file to the judge himself. The lawyer argued the matter of release on bail, but the judge issued his ruling quickly and rejected the release request.

The lawyer presented a comprehensive argument regarding release, presenting his legal evidence, and I understood the judge would need time to study the argument, but the judge did not bother, issuing his ruling quickly — this confirmed for me the accuracy of the information obtained from outside the courtroom, that the ruling had been issued outside the judge’s own will and assessment of the matter.

The lawyer submitted a release request three days later, and the judge accepted the request, and I was released on the 7th of this month — meaning the matter has not ended, and I am awaiting trial, and the suspicion now is not directed at the judge himself, but at the external powers pressuring the judge.

I noticed during the show-trial session that a fourth charge had been added to the indictment — no one had asked me about it before — the charge of inciting sectarian strife. The defense lawyer took on refuting this charge, saying there are no rival sects in Palestine that anyone could stir strife around, not to mention that I never mentioned sects at all in my television interview.

Finally, I affirm that I never mentioned specific parties or persons, and that Palestine TV, its guests, and the Palestinian judiciary did not rely on definitive information or texts from my own statements, but rather relied on analyses and interpretations of intentions they claimed I held.

I also cast doubt on the evidence the deputy prosecutor presented, on the grounds that it consisted of electronically broadcast material. Electronically broadcast material does not constitute evidence before a judge, since an electronic signal is subject to a great deal of forgery and manipulation the moment it leaves its source.

This is exactly what happened before the Zionist interrogator who questioned me in 2014 — I told him not to present me with any electronically broadcast material, since it was not something I had produced myself, and he indeed complied, presenting no electronically broadcast paper or statement before the judge.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “قضاء الحكم الذاتي الفلسطيني” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.