The Palestinian Authority's Human 'Slaughterhouse'
by Khaled Abu Toameh • August 18, 2025 at 5:00 am
None of these countries... [France, Canada, Australia, the UK] has demanded that the Palestinian Authority halt its human rights violations against its own people. Ending financial and administrative corruption and excluding Hamas from governance is pointless as long as the PA continues to crack down on its political rivals and impose severe restrictions on freedom of speech.
Last month, Palestinian Authority security officer Ammar Saeed Abu Thahri reportedly died while in PA custody. It remains unclear why Abu Thahri was arrested by PA security forces in the first place.
"Most of the arrests were related to freedom of expression or participation in demonstrations in solidarity with the Gaza Strip." — Palestinian human rights group Lawyers for Justice, safa.pa, July 30, 2025.
The Palestinian Authority security officers who beat political activist Nizar Banat to death in 2021 have still not been punished. Banat, an outspoken critic of the PA leadership, was beaten to death by PA security officers in Hebron.
"We have documented hundreds of cases of arrest, torture, and ill-treatment of activists and political opponents since Nizar's killing.... Those involved in most of these crimes have not been held accountable." — Lawyers for Justice, June 24, 2025.
If France, Australia, the UK and Canada really cared about the Palestinians, they should be demanding that the PA respect public freedoms and stop its crackdown on political and human rights activists.
The last thing the Middle East needs is another Arab dictatorship run by corrupt leaders whose main goal is to batter their own people while siphoning off still more European and international aid money into their own bank accounts.
France, Canada, Australia, the UK and other Western countries that recently pledged to recognize a Palestinian state have said that their decision is "predicated" on commitments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to undergo critical governance reforms, as well as excluding the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group from a future Palestinian government.
None of these countries, however, has demanded that the PA halt its human rights violations against its own people. Ending financial and administrative corruption and excluding Hamas from governance is pointless as long as the PA continues to crack down on its political rivals and impose severe restrictions on freedom of speech.
The Western countries continue to ignore statements by Palestinian human rights organizations regarding the PA's violations. These countries, obsessed with Israel, turn a blind eye to Palestinians' complaints against the PA, which controls large parts of the West Bank.
