CAIRO/LONDON: Heightened political violence between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah has claimed the lives of up to 300 civilians in the first half of 2007 leading to serious human rights abuses by the factions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, leaving residents of the Occupied Territories in despair, Amnesty International stressed in its new report "Torn Apart by Factional Strife released today. "Both Fatah and Hamas security forces and armed groups committed grave human rights abuses and displayed a flagrant disregard for the safety of the civilian population. Rival security forces whose responsibility was to uphold and enforce the law, and to protect the population, betrayed this responsibility and instead acted as partisans, in concert with armed groups that serve as their proxy militias, and themselves broke the law and committed gross abuses with complete impunity, Amnesty stated. The report contains several harrowing eyewitness accounts of the bloody inter-factional strife in the Gaza Strip in the spring of 2007 between Fatah and Hamas gunmen that blatantly expose the disinterest of the fighting factions to protect civilians. For three days we could not leave the house. Gunmen took position on tall buildings around us and were firing rockets at each other. We feared that a missile could come through the window any time, a resident of Gaza City told Amnesty International researchers. Furthermore, the report accuses Hamas of systematically "hunting down Fatah affiliates and other critics. Since Hamas came to power in 2007, hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained, torture has become a common practice, and political demonstrations are suppressed with the use of violence, alleged the organization. The security forces of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas also receive strong criticism in the report for allegedly "cracking down on Hamas supporters. "Hundreds have been detained outside the legal framework, and at times tortured. Protestors, critics, and pro-Hamas media have been attacked and intimidated by security forces and Fatah gunmen, said the report. Hamas's establishment of a law enforcement apparatus that lacks trained personnel and accountability mechanisms has supposedly resulted in heightened arbitrary detentions and torture of detainees by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, the report claims that the PA government has continually failed to hold Fatah gunmen responsible for abductions of Hamas supporters, accountable, even though the majority of the perpetrators carried out the attacks in full view of the PA security forces. The rights group also maintains that the factional strife has taken a significantly hard toll on civilians living in the Gaza Strip; an area already demolished by Israeli military campaigns, heightened international isolation, and poor humanitarian conditions. According to the report, 1.5 million Gaza residents have allegedly been forced into entrapment and rapidly deteriorating living conditions due to international sanctions and Israeli blockades since June this year. In response to the ongoing violent factional strife, Amnesty suggests the establishment of an independent commission of experts to investigate human rights abuses allegedly committed by the various factions. PA and Hamas leaders are urged to fully comply with the commission and implement its recommendations. Furthermore, the report demands the PA and Hamas to immediately end arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture practices. The PA is also urged to address the issue of impunity and launch investigations into unlawful killings and attacks on civilians while Amnesty asks the international community to discontinue the sale or transfer of weapons to any parties without guarantees that such equipment will not be used to violate human rights and international humanitarian law.
