'Abbas creating military dictatorship'
Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 11, 2007
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has come under heavy criticism
from Palestinians - including drafters of the PA Basic Law - who say he is
forging a "military dictatorship" in the West Bank by granting military
courts broad powers to crack down on civilians.

Abbas is also under attack for seeking to dilute the power of the
Palestinian Legislative Council, whose members were elected in January 2006.
Abbas has issued a series of decrees in recent weeks suspending parts of the
PA Basic Law and granting himself and military and security commanders and
judges greater powers.

On Monday, Abbas issued a "presidential decree" giving Palestinian military
courts in the West Bank greater power "in the interest of public safety and
internal public security." The move is seen as an attempt to enhance his
power and to foil any attempt by Hamas to undermine his Fatah faction in the
West Bank.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the new order was "the most
dangerous of a series of decrees" that Abbas issued following his
declaration of a state of emergency on June 14.

"The decree paves the way for the destruction of the judicial authority and
civilian life for the sake of militarizing Palestinian society," the center
said in a statement.

Another Palestinian human rights group, Al-Haq, said it viewed Abbas's
decree with "great concern, as it infringes on fundamental human rights and
is in violation of the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law."

Abbas, according to critics, is planning to establish a new parliament to
replace the Hamas-dominated PLC.

Two lawyers who helped draft the PA Basic Law have lashed out at Abbas for
"violating the law." Attorneys Anis al-Qassem and Yugin Qatran said the law
did not give Abbas the right to form an emergency government.

They said the law they helped draft more than a decade ago was very clear
about the powers of the PA chairman.

"While the Palestinian Authority chairman is entitled to fire the prime
minister, he does not have the power to form a new government without the
approval of parliament," they said.

"The dismissed government [of Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh] should have continued
to serve as a caretaker government until a new government is approved by a
majority in parliament. What's happening today in the West Bank will lead to
the creation of a military dictatorship," they said.

Dr. Ahmed Khaldi, another legal expert who played a major role in drafting
the Basic Law, was kidnapped two weeks ago by unidentified gunmen in his
hometown of Nablus.

Khaldi's abduction was intended to send a warning to him and other legal
scholars who have been criticizing Abbas's violations of the Basic Law.

Also on Tuesday, in the first protest of its kind since Hamas took control
over the Gaza Strip, the families of dozens of Hamas supporters demonstrated
in Nablus to demand the release of their sons from PA prisons.

Palestinian policemen fired into the air to prevent the demonstrators from
approaching the city's central prison, witnesses said. No one was hurt.

Meanwhile, Fatah gunmen in Nablus kidnapped Shaher Saed, general-secretary
of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions.

Sources in the city told The Jerusalem Post that Saed was abducted from his
downtown office. They said he was released unharmed later in the day after
being ordered by the gunmen to resign from his post.

The abduction is yet another indication of the continued lawlessness in the
West Bank, which is now entirely under the control of forces loyal to Abbas.
Saed, who has been in his job for more than 15 years, was kidnapped despite
the beefed-up presence of PA security forces on the streets.

Earlier this week, some 150 Fatah gunmen stormed a number of schools in
Nablus and drove out hundreds of students who were taking high school
matriculation exams.

The gunmen were protesting against Abbas's refusal to allocate secret halls
for them so that they, too, could sit for the exams, without risking being
arrested or killed by the IDF. The gunmen were later allowed to sit for the
exams in special halls.

One of the teachers said most of the gunmen cheated.

"They opened books and copied the answers word by word," he said. "We were
afraid to stop them because they were carrying M-16 rifles."

PA security forces have detained more than 100 Hamas supporters in Nablus
over the past three weeks. All the detainees are being held without trial or
questioning and are banned from meeting with their lawyers.

Unconfirmed reports that some of the Hamas detainees have been tortured
sparked a wave of protests in the city and other parts of the West Bank.

Citing "security concerns," PA policemen banned reporters and photographers
from covering Tuesday's demonstration outside the PA lock-up. A university
student who was suspected of using his mobile phone to take a picture of the
event was beaten and taken into custody.

In a related development, Palestinian journalists complained that the PA had
banned the Hamas-affiliated Falasteen newspaper from being distributed in
the West Bank. The paper is based in Gaza City.