16 February 2006

A Front Line delegation, including Front Line’s Director, Mary Lawlor traveled to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) from 8 February to 14 February to launch a report on the situation of human rights defenders in the region.

The report, which is written in conjunction with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), examines killings, injury, arbitrary detention and arrest of human rights defenders over the past five years caused by both the Israeli military and by forces with links to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)

The report recommends, among other things, that Israel stop treating human rights defenders as terrorists and lifts the regime of checkpoints, closures and curfews which has imposed a siege across the OPT and prevented defenders from carrying out their work.

It calls for the release of a number of human rights defenders including al Haq fieldworker Ziyad Hmeidan who has been held without charge by Israeli authorities since July 2005.

The Front Line delegation had meetings with the Central Elections Commission, the UNRWA Gaza field office, the Israeli public Committee Against Torture, and a variety of human rights organisations in the region

However, on 13 February the Israeli authorities prevented three Palestinian human rights defenders from attending a meeting with Front Line in Jerusalem. Raji Sourani, Issam Younis and Alaa Jradaat were due to take part in a historic meeting of Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders in East Jerusalem.

Mary Lawlor, Director of Front Line, said:“it is deplorable that the Israeli authorities have refused to give permission to travel to a meeting to these three human rights defenders whose only goal is to promote and protect human rights.”

She further stated “human rights defenders should be allowed to meet without restrictions to their freedom of movement. The Israeli authorities should immediately lift the restrictions it has imposed on Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders over the last four years, in conformity with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.” Download PDFs * Front Line Palestine.pdf (861 KB)