Politics interferes

an interview with Khalida Jarrar

bitterlemons: Would you say that there is a greater and greater disconnect between

international law and the implementation of such law on the ground, most recently

with regard to the wall?

Jarrar: The Israeli occupation has always brought with it a violation of human

rights if we look at the standard that should be but is not implemented:

international law and international humanitarian law. You can give many examples of

this, and one recent example is the wall. Israel has said it will not implement or

take notice of the Hague decision or the United Nations General Assembly

recommendation.

We feel, and this is always a worry to us as human rights activists, that politics

interferes with the implementation of human rights and those who have the power can

implement or not implement international law as they see fit. In addition, what we

notice now is that some powerful countries like the United States want to make

changes to international law.

bitterlemons: What can human rights groups like your own do about that, if the

powerful are intent on having their way?

Jarrar: Of course we understand that the struggle for human rights is a long

struggle. Human rights activists mainly try to lobby and influence international

public opinion. International law came about after World War I and II as a result of

people's reaction to the mass violations of human rights these wars embodied. So

this is the main way human rights activists can be effective, and we hope that

through such methods we can affect changes in international public opinion. And we

are somehow optimistic, because we notice that there are changes in international

opinion.

bitterlemons: How would you characterize the trend in human rights in the past four

years, both internally and vis-a-vis the occupation?

Jarrar: Violations of human rights as a result of the occupation have reached

unprecedented levels. We are now talking about mass collective punishments,

including the checkpoints that restrict the right of movement and the rights of

people to access their places of work or their land, as well as restrictions on the

access to water. These measures have affected the lives of all Palestinians. In

addition there are the assassinations, the demolition of houses, the continued

settlement building and lately, and another thing that has affected the lives of all

Palestinians, the building of the wall. All of this is prohibited by international

law. What we see is that all these violations have continued and increased.

In addition, we notice that within the so-called peace process, the security issue

has become the overriding issue, and an issue at odds with the human rights issue,

which makes us worry about the prevalent view about how to deal with the situation.

Within Palestinian society there are also violations. We monitor the violations of

the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which is why as an organization when we

talk about violations we also take into consideration violations of the Authority.

Before the Intifada there were mass arrests and torture. Now there is no rule of law

and without the rule of law nothing can be implemented. There is a lot of discussion

and lobbying within the Palestinian community at the moment about elections, because

we believe that holding elections is one of the important mechanisms to make changes

within Palestinian society and to ensure accountability. But we also notice that

both internally and internationally there is no pressure to ensure this process,

while for other issues, like security, there is a lot of pressure.

bitterlemons: Your organization deals with prisoners' rights. What is the current

status of prisoners' rights?

Jarrar: There is constant violation of conventions regarding prisoners. I will not

talk politically here; I will talk only about the rights of prisoners according to

minimum international standards. There are numerous Israeli violations of these

standards, including the provision of adequate healthcare, the number of prisoners

per cell, the standard of food, and so on. Even though the Israel High Court in 1999

ruled that the use of torture should be stopped, we see that torture continues being

used. Prisoners are held in isolation for long stretches and lawyers are not allowed

access, which is a grievous violation. Israeli organizations monitoring prisoner

rights abuses last May issued a report detailing violations not only of

international standards but also Israeli standards, and this is why there is now a

case before the Israeli high court, and there is discussion in the Israeli Knesset.

Yesterday a Knesset committee went to one prison to talk to prisoners. This comes

aft!

er much pressure from within Israel over the violation of prisoners' rights.

We will continue our monitoring work and submit our reports to the UN and other

international bodies in coordination with international human rights groups such as

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as other Palestinian human

rights groups, to lobby against these violations and improve the situation inside

prisons.

- Published 2/8/2004 (c) bitterlemons.org

Khalida Jarrar is the director of the Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights

Association.