![Palestinian security forces are seen during the clashes between Palestinian security forces and resistance fighters in the Jenin refugee camp west of the city of Jenin, on 21 December 2024 [Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-2190307764.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
A UK-based human rights group has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to open an investigation into the crimes committed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) reminded the ICC that Palestine is a State Party to the Rome Statute, which established the court, and has the jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed by these security forces, particularly widespread torture, killings and, most recently, the strict siege on Jenin refugee camp.
The organisation added that these crimes are being committed on a large scale and in a systematic manner, with their gravity compounded by the fact that they are carried out in coordination with and supported by the Israeli occupation forces to suppress legitimate anti-occupation activists and opponents of the PA’s own agendas.
“The PA security forces and Israeli occupation forces exchange roles in the occupied territories,” said the group. “While Israeli forces storm towns, villages and refugee camps daily, carrying out killings and arrests, PA security forces — acting on information and instructions from the occupation regime — conduct similar arrest and killing operations.”
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The AOHR UK emphasised that following the events of 7 October 2023, PA security forces acting under the directives of President Mahmoud Abbas launched a widespread crackdown targeting activists and prohibiting any show of solidarity with fellow Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Torture has also been used extensively in prisons and security detention centres.
“This crackdown,” said the organisation, “reached its peak with the storming of Jenin refugee camp and the imposition of a strict siege that has lasted for over 30 days.” The siege has prevented movement in and out of the camp and disrupted education. Moreover, food, medicine and fuel supplies have been cut off. “In an attempt to take full control of the camp, the PA security forces turned Jenin Governmental Hospital into a military base, assaulted medical staff, burned down homes and vehicles belonging to residents, and deployed snipers on rooftops, resulting in the killing of eight civilians and wounding of many others.”
The PA and Israeli forces have launched a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at demoralising the Palestinian population by spreading rumours and demonising activists, going so far as to blame Palestinian factions for the killings in Jenin, said the AOHR UK. “To tighten media control, both parties have intermittently ordered the closure of Al Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem and Ramallah and halted its broadcasts.”
The organisation stressed that the Palestinian people live under a brutal military occupation that uses all means to suppress them and undermine their rights. “And yet it is their right — and, indeed, their duty — like any other people under occupation, to resist and fight to reclaim their legitimate rights. It is clear that the crimes committed against them by Israeli forces and PA security forces cannot be distinguished from one another, as they form part of a coordinated and large-scale campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in the Rome Statute.”
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