According to a recent report by a Palestinian news agency, the Palestinian Authority (PA) regularly employs various forms of torture at its detention centers. But, writes Elliott Abrams, many normally so solicitous of Palestinian wellbeing, and abnormally so alert to alleged Israeli misbehavior, have kept silent:
This is not the first time such allegations have been made against both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. What’s worth noting is the reaction from Washington and among the donors to the PA: silence. And what’s even more noteworthy is the reaction from the innumerable groups attacking Israel for human-rights violations: more silence. Such abuses, which would arouse a global round of denunciations if Israel acted this way, arouse yawns when committed by the PA.
There are some lessons here. One, as noted, is that official Palestinian human-rights abuses get next to zero attention. Another lesson is that this immunity carries a price—and the price is paid by Palestinians. Instead of evolving steadily toward a more democratic political system that respects human rights, the Palestinian system has stalled. There are no elections, there are widespread human-rights abuses, there are few or no corrective mechanisms, and there is global indifference. Governments and organizations that say they want to help build peace in the Middle East should realize that withholding criticism of the PA . . . is not a way forward. It is a guarantee that . . . conditions in the West Bank will continue to deteriorate.
Read more on Pressure Points: http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2016/02/01/torture-in-palestine-produces-no-outrage/