Anti-talks protesters ‘beaten and arrested’ in Ramallah

A human rights group has called for an investigation following allegations that Palestinian police beat and arrested anti-negotiations protesters in the West Bank on Saturday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said around 10 protestors were arrested and five injured, including three who were forcibly removed from hospital after receiving emergency treatment, following the several hundred-strong demonstration in central Ramallah. Witnesses told the group that police responded to sticks and stones being thrown with apparent excessive force, striking protesters with batons, including those demonstrating peacefully. In a press release on Tuesday, HRW called on the Palestinian Authority to carry out a full and impartial investigation into the allegations. The news comes as Palestinian politicians, journalists and public figures expressed their pessimism over the new round of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government. Preliminary talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators began in Washington on Monday following an initiative by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the first time the two sides have engaged in direct discussions since 2010. The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamist Islamic Jihad have strongly objected to the return to direct talks, the former saying it was a unilateral move by the Palestinian Authority that did not have the approval of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation as a whole. The view is shared by many ordinary Palestinians, who blame 20 years of failed negotiations for the current impasse in Palestinian politics. On Tuesday the criticisms were echoed by senior Fatah official and former PA minister Nabil Amr, who said although he had previously been against suspending negotiations, he did not support the return to talks at a time when Palestinians had lost so much credibility and negotiating power. “Although I understand the motives for returning to negotiations, I continue to warn against it, because those who have failed at every stage will not be able to reach success at the critical stage," he said. Abdel-Rahman Abu Hakima, a Jordanian journalist of Palestinian origin, said the Palestinian Authority had “not taken into account any national consensus” in its decision to return to the negotiating table, anticipating that the development would be “exploited by Israel to improve its ugly international image”. He predicted the negotiations would see the expansion of settlements, the “pillaging and Judaization” of land and seizure of holy sites by Israel, in exchange for a few concessions such as removing checkpoints and releasing prisoners. Hakima told Arab Today the Palestinian Authority would do better to pursue reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, adding that the Palestinian leadership was supposed to turn the November decision granting Palestine observer status in the UN into tangible political gains. Dr. Nihad al-Akhras of the Palestinian Health Care Union said that the negotiations would “not make a difference”, pointing to Israel’s refusal to suspend settlement-building and to recognize the 1967 borders as insurmountable sticking points. Dr Akhras criticised the Palestinian leadership for allowing “non-binding American oral guarantees to drag the Palestinians to negotiations”, despite the fact the promises did not meet the demands of Palestinians.