THE HANDSTAND

august2005

bitterlemons: With this anomalous situation--that under occupation there is this demand that the occupied people should keep itself in line--what can the PA do to maintain order?

Mansour: It can impose law and order in the short term if there is hope that the occupation will end.

bitterlemons: How can the PA do so in the short term?

Mansour: It is possible if there is hope, if people feel the international community is ready to take steps to end the occupation, to remove the Israeli forces and ensure the dismantlement of the settlements. But if people don't have hope then it's impossible. If a person's land is expropriated, if he is the victim of a settler's aggression and he has no recourse to the law, how can you persuade people to respect any law? You cannot have two laws and two rulers, the law of the occupier and the law of the occupied authority.

Hope, in the short term, is mostly connected to the behavior of the Israeli military. In the present situation, when we hear that there is a withdrawal from Gaza but an intensification of settlement activity in the West Bank and a speeding up of the construction of the wall in and around Jerusalem, people will be skeptical, and that is a major obstacle to establish law and order.

But steps can be taken in the meanwhile, and we are witnessing this in the reforms in the security forces as well as steps to reform the judiciary. The rule of law is also necessary for the socio-economic situation to improve.

bitterlemons: What in the judiciary needs to be reformed?

Mansour: A lot needs to be done in the judiciary. We need to have a truly independent, impartial, accountable and efficient judiciary. We have to work at different levels, whether in the judiciary itself, the executive and even the legislative branches, insofar as the latter has to set the needed legal framework, one which is modern and in conformity with international standards. Concerning the judiciary, we need to look at how appointments are made, we need to ensure transparency of appointments and promotions, and set up a system of inspections and discipline.

As for the executive, the task is to facilitate access of people and lawyers to the court, and having courts that can receive cases and are equipped to receive the public. With respect to criminal cases, the public prosecution must be capable of collecting evidence against a suspect and for this it needs the assistance of the police. For example, there is the issue of summons: the police must be able to go to outlying villages to serve summons. Finally, we need to defend the courts, legal professionals, defendants and accusers against people entering courtrooms with weapons.

The police and security services have to be under the judiciary, insofar as they perform judicial functions, and must be ready, willing and trained to not only protect the courtrooms, but to execute sentences.

bitterlemons: What about the issue of corruption. How does that affect due process?

Mansour: One has to divide the issue of corruption into different components. One is about Israel. As Israel controls access to and from Palestinian areas, there have undoubtedly been connections between privileged Palestinians and Israelis to allow the movement of these people's goods and their persons. That is one component and it is prevalent in any situation that requires importation.

Then we need to distinguish between corruption and the ability of some people due to family connections to get good jobs in the Authority. Is it corruption? Well, it is not the rule of law, it is not the modern way of appointing people to the civil service. But should we call it corruption? I am not sure. It is about perception. The PA comes from a traditional society where families are important in getting access to jobs and privileges. Maybe, in an ideal situation in ten years, this phenomenon no longer exists. To me, the more important corruption is when there is a bid for a contract and someone gets the contract because they pay under the table. This must be absolutely condemned. But getting a job through personal connections, well, it's not acceptable, but it is a social phenomenon that will not disappear overnight.

bitterlemons: So in the short term...

Mansour: In the short term, the PA must work to restore the people's faith in the authority and its institutions by working to reform the judiciary and the security services. But ultimately, success in establishing and durably maintaining law and order and due process depends on the end of the occupation.- Published 11/7/2005 (c) bitterlemons.org

Camille Mansour is professor of international relations at Paris and Versailles universities. Since September 2004he has worked as a UNDP technical assistant on Palestinian judicial reform. In March of this year, he was appointed the secretary of a steering committee, for the development of the judiciary.

PROMINENT PALESTINIAN MP RESIGNS
By Alan Johnston
BBC News correspondent in GAZA

One of the best-known figures in the Palestinian parliament, Marwan Kanafani, has resigned.

Mr Kanafani said he was stepping down in protest at law and order problems and the general lack of reform.

His criticism comes as the Palestinian leadership is preparing to cope with challenges thrown up by Israel's forthcoming withdrawal from Gaza.

Mr Kanafani was once at the heart of the Palestinian government, and acted as Yasser Arafat's spokesman.

He is no longer part of the administration, but has remained a leading parliamentarian and a respected figure.

Disunity

Explaining his decision to step down, he condemned what he said were delays in financial and administrative reforms.

But he seemed even more worried by what he described as the worsening law and order situation.

Years of violence during the Palestinian uprising have led to a proliferation of armed factions in the West Bank and Gaza, which are under Israeli occupation.

The Palestinian security forces often seem incapable of imposing order or even instilling discipline within their own ranks.

Mr Kanafani painted a picture of drift and disunity at the heart of the Palestinian political system, just weeks before Israel plans to start pulling out of Gaza.

Mr Kanafani said it would be important for the Palestinians to show the world that they are capable of governing themselves properly in the aftermath of the Israeli retreat.

The following is the number of trees uprooted by the Israeli occupation forces during the year 2004 only:
Uprooted Olive Trees: 349,608 trees
Uprooted Date Trees: 25,004 trees
Uprooted Citrus Trees: 341,487 trees
Uprooted Almond Trees: 66,930 trees
Uprooted Grapevines: 72,097 trees
Uprooted Banana Trees: 20,400 trees
Uprooted other Fruit Trees: 106,958 trees
Uprooted Forest Trees and fences: 9,097 trees
Destroyed Vegetable Fields: 10,953 Dunoms
Destroyed Greenhouses: 1,363 Dunoms
Destroyed Field Crops: 12,995 Dunoms The Figures are Ministry of Agriculture figures on uprooting between February 29th, 2000 till February 29th, 2004.