GULF NEWS-
Living with fear
01-05-2003
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Kavitha S. Daniel meets Palestinian human rights activist who describes
life under occupation
There's a sense of urgency in her voice. She talks at a
furious pace as she describes what it is like living in the shadow of a
"big brother". She talks of being stalked by this entity that is so
much part of life. And for no apparent reason, could take away loved and
cherished ones.
This is how the Palestinian human rights activist from
the West Bank, Randa Siniora, depicts life in the Occupied Territories today.
She is in Abu Dhabi to deliver lectures on the Palestinian situation. She spoke
to Tabloid about "a human rights activist living under occupation".
Randa heads one of the oldest human rights organisations
operating in the West Bank, Gaza strip and Occupied Jerusalem. Her
organisation, Al Haq, established in 1979 with the goal of protecting and
promoting human rights and respect for the rule of law in the Occupied
Territories, is not just a watchdog.
It also documents Israeli violations of the basic rights
of people, pinpoints trends in human rights issues, launches campaigns based on
its findings, provides legal and medical aid to individuals, and does extensive
legal research.
For instance, the Ramallah-based Al Haq recently
identified the issue of "collective punishments" meted out by the
Israeli soldiers on Palestinians.
Punishments range from harassment of Palestinians through
random killings, arbitrary detentions, demolition of homes to economic
repression. These atrocities are a gross violation of Article 33 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention, of which Israel is a signatory, says Randa.
Al Haq highlights these facts to the world and brings
pressure on governments to persuade Israel to end these "illegal
activities". Most recently, Al Haq has been conducting legal research into
the eight-metre-high "apartheid wall" being erected through the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, cutting these areas off from Israel.
But Al Haq also takes up cases against the Palestinian
Authority (PA). "That makes our work all that more difficult because we
are criticised by both sides," says Randa, a social science graduate with
a passion for women's causes.
In the case of PA, Al Haq has questioned the legality of
courts that have been set up to try alleged Israeli collaborators.
"A person could be accused of an act of treason and
brought before the court to be sentenced and executed within hours," she
says. "This goes against the basic human right to life."
Randa gives a chilling account of an execution by hanging
of a "collaborator" on a busy street in Ramallah. "This happened
after an incursion by the Israelis.
The people chased away the journalists and gathered
around the man to spit on him even as he lay dying," she says.
More determined
There are many such episodes Randa narrates from her
diary where she has jotted down experiences in Palestine. Such experiences have
only made her more determined in her struggle for human rights.
"It is a challenge working as a human rights
organisation, but we continually make internal contacts with the authorities on
both sides, visit prisons, write letters, use international institutions such
as voluntary groups, governments and the United Nations to intervene on our
behalf," she says.
Al Haq is an affiliate of the International Commission of
Jurists – Geneva and is an NGO with a consultative status on the Economic and
Social Council of the UN.
Having taken over the directorship of Al Haq in November
2001, Randa says she is "proud" of being involved with such a worthy
cause to liberate her country.
She says Al Haq has been most effective in locating the
"sons" of families taken away by the Israeli soldiers.
"The repeated Israeli incursions in villages are
followed by arbitrary detentions and arrests. That's when we open hotlines and
quickly inform families where their men have been detained.
This may be a trivial matter to an outsider, but they
should remember the agony families undergo when members are suddenly arrested.
They don't even know if they are alive. We have located more than 2,000 such
people," she says.
Another important achievement of Al Haq has been to bring
four Israeli Border Police to book in the death of a 17-year-old Palestinian
teenager in Hebron. It was Al Haq that pushed for an investigation and
convinced the families to exhume the body and with the help of organisations
such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, applied pressure on the
government to arrest the offenders, Randa says.
However, it would be difficult to oversee the punishment
meted out to these soldiers by Israeli courts, she admits.
"The end of the occupation, which has remained
elusive due to lack of political will, is our ultimate aim," she says.
Until then, Randa Siniora and her compatriots continue living in the eye of a
storm.
Crossing Israeli checkpoints takes them hours to reach
their workplace, a fear of incursions and attacks on offices and homes (Al Haq
was once attacked and their equipment stolen and ransacked) haunt them and the
threat of being shot while outside is always there.
"There was a time during the beginning of the
Intifada when I used to tell my husband and children that we might not see each
other by the end of the day. That's how dangerous the situation was," she
says. "Sometimes I feel is it a blessing or a curse that we adapt and live
in such an environment?"
Women's role
Palestinian women have been at the forefront, trying to
protect their children from being killed by Israeli soldiers, she says.
Moreover, the women are in a position of strength in
Palestine. "The national struggle has empowered them. They are in the
labour force and are politically mobilised. But the violence in the society has
affected family life, with rise in domestic violence, honour killings, etc. It
has had a tremendous psychological impact on women.
"Despite these problems, our women are strong and
for us Algerian women are a role model. We continue to fight for a decent life
and for dignity and respect," Randa says.
For a Palestinian woman to be involved in human rights,
especially in an atmosphere so full of violence, is a bit unusual, she says.
It all started with a research on Palestinian women
during her graduation. Al Haq, which was observing the 20th year of Israeli
occupation, asked her to document human rights violations in the area.
According to her, it was around 1986 that human rights groups started
"bringing a gender perspective into their movements".
In 1997, she left the organisation to work with the
Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling and returned to take up the post
of director of Al Haq in November 2001.
Unfair criticism
She feels hurt by Western criticism that Palestinian
women have been uncaring by putting their children in harm's way in the current
Intifada.
"We are talking of a situation where the children
are restrained in a refugee camp. The playgrounds are the streets and they are
restricted from what children anywhere in the world would normally do.
Can we prevent them from going out to play and somehow
stop them from being instigated to throw a stone at an occupying force? It's
very insulting to say Palestinian women and mothers do not care. How can they
make an accusation like that? Is there any mother who will willingly send her
children to fight?"
This is another fear women in Occupied Territories have
to live with – children picking up a stone only to end up with a bullet in
their body. This situation cannot last forever, Randa says. "All we want
is people to stop thinking of us not just as victims, but as people with
rights."
Sixty-five per cent of the Palestinian population lives
below the poverty line and earns less than $2 a day. "These issues need to
be addressed urgently."
But, even in the worst of times, Randa, her husband, who
is a professor, and their only son have never thought of packing up their bags
and leaving Palestine. "We have to stay. Love your land, stay where
you are – this is something we instil into our children."