RAMALLAH: The family of a political activist who died in the custody of Palestinian security forces last month on Saturday accused the Palestinian Authority of trying to cover up his death.
Relatives of Nizar Banat said they still have not received a document with an official cause of death and said the Palestinian Authority has made efforts to settle the matter out of court.
“The behavior of the Palestinian Authority until this moment is criminal behavior, covering up a crime,’’ Ghassan Banat, Nizar’s brother, told reporters.
Nizar Banat was an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority who called on Western nations to stop providing aid to the PA due to human rights violations and growing authoritarianism.
In a series of posts and live videos on Facebook, Banat had criticized the authority’s close security coordination with Israel, seen by many Palestinians as betrayal, and its corruption. He also lashed out at President Mahmoud Abbas in April for calling off what would have been the first Palestinian elections in 15 years. Banat was a candidate on an opposition slate.
His family has said security forces stormed into Banat’s bedroom while he was sleeping and beat him, inflicting bloody head wounds before removing him from the house. He died shortly afterward while in custody.
His death has prompted weeks of protests. On July 5 at least six activists were arrested by security forces when protesting outside the Palestinian Authority headquarters. Multiple witnesses said the police used pepper spray and beat the protesters with batons.
Some 150 people demonstrated in Ramallah on Saturday evening, holding up posters of Banat and chanting anti-Abbas slogans. The protest was peaceful and there were no reports of violence or arrests.
The Palestinian Authority, seen as a crucial partner of the US and other Western countries, has formed an investigative committee into Banat’s death. His brother said that weeks later, the family has heard little from the government.
‘‘Until this moment, we have failed to obtain a death certificate. How can you have a citizen who dies without issuing a death certificate?” Ghassan Banat said.
Accompanied by two family lawyers, the brother rejected what he said were attempts by the authority to send tribal elders to the family in hopes of closing the case and stopping it from reaching the courts.
“This file will not be resolved or closed through elders or tribal ways,” he said. “Nizar’s file is a political assassination and will remain open until justice is achieved, even if it takes 1,000 years.”
The Palestinian Authority is widely viewed as corrupt and authoritarian, with a recent poll last month showing that support for Abbas, who took power for what was supposed to be a four-year term in 2005, had nosedived.
Abbas has faced mounting pressure after calling off the elections when it appeared that his Fatah party would suffer a crushing defeat to the rival Hamas militant group.
Last month, Palestinian security forces arrested prominent activist and critic, Issa Amro, after he criticized recent arrests on Facebook.
Family: Palestinian Authority covering up critic’s death
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Family: Palestinian Authority covering up critic’s death
- Relatives of Nizar Banat said the Palestinian Authority has made efforts to settle the matter out of court
- “The behavior of the Palestinian Authority until this moment is criminal behavior, covering up a crime,’’ said Ghassan Banat
UAE braced for severe weather, task force on high alert
- UAE’s disaster management authority warns residents to expect rain, storms over next two days
- All private schools in UAE to switch to remote learning as precaution on Thursday and Friday
DUBAI: Challenging weather is again expected in the UAE, with parts of the country’s east coast set to experience strong winds.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said gusts of up to 40 kph were likely to impact the area on Thursday.
While the NCM forecasts less severe conditions than those in April, it has warned residents to expect rain and storms over the next two days. There is a possibility of hail in the eastern regions, possibly extending to some internal and western areas.
Clouds are expected to decrease on Friday and Saturday, with possible light to medium rain which may be heavier in some southern and eastern regions.
Government agencies are coordinating with the Joint Weather and Tropical Assessment Team to monitor developments, said a statement from the NCM.
The teams will assess the potential impact of weather conditions and implement proactive measures where necessary.
Dubai’s government announced all private schools in the UAE would switch to remote learning on Thursday and Friday as a precaution.
Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution, adhere to safety standards and guidelines, refrain from circulating rumors, and rely on official sources for information.
The UAE is still recovering from last month’s storms which caused widespread flooding, submerging streets and disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport.
Hamas official insists Gaza ceasefire must be permanent
- Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official said the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period“
- He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war“
GAZA, Palestinian Territories: Hamas will respond to an Israeli truce proposal for Gaza “within a very short period,” an official with the Palestinian militant group said Wednesday, stressing though that any ceasefire needs to be permanent.
Hamas is considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official, told AFP the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period,” although he would not say precisely when that was expected to happen.
Speaking to AFP by phone from an undisclosed location, he said it was premature to say whether the Hamas envoys, who have returned from talks in Cairo to their base in Qatar, felt any progress was made.
He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war.”
But that would seem to be at odds with Israel’s determination to push ahead with its vast ground offensive in southern Gaza.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Qatari mediators expected a response from Hamas in one or two days.
The source said Israel’s proposal contained “real concessions” including a period of “sustainable calm” following an initial pause in fighting and the exchange of hostages of and prisoners.
The source said Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip remained a likely point of contention.
An Israeli official told AFP the government “will wait for answers until Wednesday night,” and then “make a decision” whether to send envoys to Cairo to nail down a deal.
Jordan says Israeli settlers attacked Jordanian aid convoys on way to Gaza - state news agency
DUBAI: Jordan said some Israeli settlers attacked on Wednesday two of its aid convoys that were on the way to Gaza, the Petra state news agency reported.
“Jordan strongly condemns extremist Israeli settlers’ attack on two Jordanian aid convoys”, it said.
US surgeon in Gaza: nothing prepared me for scale of injuries
- Around 70 percent of the surgeries he performed were on injuries caused by shrapnel
- Team would deal with 40-60 patients a day
CAIRO: A US vascular surgeon who left Gaza after a stint as a volunteer said on Wednesday nothing had prepared him for the scale of injuries he had faced there.
Dozens of patients a day. Most of them young. Most facing complicated injuries caused by shrapnel. Most ending up with amputations.
“Vascular surgery is really a disease for older patients and I would say I had never operated on anybody less than 16, and that was the majority of patients that we did this time around,” Shariq Sayeed, from Atlanta, Georgia, told Reuters in Cairo.
“Most were patients 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 years of age. Mostly shrapnel wounds, and that was something I have never dealt with, that was something new.”
In his stint at the European Hospital in Gaza, Sayeed said his team would deal with 40-60 patients a day. The vast majority were amputation cases.
“And unfortunately there is a very high incidence of infection as well so once you have an amputation that doesn’t heal, you end of getting a higher amputation,” he said.
Around 70 percent of the surgeries he performed were on injuries caused by shrapnel, the rest mostly from blast injuries and collapsing buildings.
Ismail Mehr, an anaesthesiologist from New York State, who led the Gaza mission, said the volunteer medics were “speechless at what we saw” when they arrived this month in southern Gaza.
Mehr is chairman of IMANA Medical Relief, a program that focuses on disaster medical relief and health care support and has provided treatment to over 2.5 million patients in 34 countries and counting.
He has been to Gaza several times in the past, but could not imagine what he saw this time: “Truly everywhere I saw was destruction in Khan Younis, not a single building standing.”
Out of 36 hospitals that used to serve more than 2 million residents, just 10 were somewhat functional by early April, according to the World Health Organization.
Health facilities lacked medical supplies, equipment, staff, and power supplies, Mehr said. His biggest fear now is an expected Israeli assault into the southern city of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought shelter.
“I hope and I pray that Rafah is not attacked,” he said. “The health system will not be able to take care of that. It will be a complete catastrophe.”
UAE braced for severe weather, task force on high alert
DUBAI: Challenging weather is again expected in the UAE, with parts of the country’s east coast set to experience strong winds.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said gusts of up to 40 kph were likely to impact the area on Thursday.
While the NCM forecasts less severe conditions than those in April, it has warned residents to expect rain and storms over the next two days. There is a possibility of hail in the eastern regions, possibly extending to some internal and western areas.
Clouds are expected to decrease on Friday and Saturday, with possible light to medium rain which may be heavier in some southern and eastern regions.
Government agencies are coordinating with the Joint Weather and Tropical Assessment Team to monitor developments, said a statement from the NCM.
The teams will assess the potential impact of weather conditions and implement proactive measures where necessary.
Dubai’s government announced all private schools in the UAE would switch to remote learning on Thursday and Friday as a precaution.
Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution, adhere to safety standards and guidelines, refrain from circulating rumors, and rely on official sources for information.
The UAE is still recovering from last month’s storms which caused widespread flooding, submerging streets and disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport.
