US report on human rights in Palestinian territories reflects ‘positive change,’ activists say

Palestinian politicians and human rights activists believe that the US State Department’s 2022 report on the status of human rights in the Palestinian territories reflects a positive change, whether for the presence of terminology that was absent during the reign of former US President Donald Trump or for its clear facts about the scale of Israeli violations against Palestinians.

“There were reports that (Israeli Security Forces) members committed abuses. The Israeli military and civilian justice systems occasionally investigated such incidents and, in some cases, found ISF members to have committed abuses,” the report stated.

The Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Social Development Ahmed Majdalani said that the report reflects the “reality” of “crimes and violations committed by the Israeli government against Palestinians” as well as its “violation of international and humanitarian law.”

He added, however, that it cannot be “considered a fundamental change in the US position toward Israel without the US taking practical steps to condemn Israel and hold it accountable for these violations.”

The report detailed that in 2022, the “ISF killed 152 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 36 Palestinian children, compared with 17 in 2021.”

It also noted that “Israel prosecutes Palestinian residents of the West Bank under military law and Israeli settlers in the West Bank under criminal and civil law.”

Jibril Rajoub, Fatah Central Committee secretary-general, said that the scale and brutality of Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinians had embarrassed the US administration to such a degree that it could no longer ignore them.

“When the reports of three credible international organizations — Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, and B’Tselem — speak of unprecedented Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories, the US cannot ignore this, especially since the Israeli crimes have become more evident,” Rajoub said.

Veteran Palestinian politician Nabil Amr said that Israel’s actions against Palestinians had crossed all lines.

“The burning of Hawara cannot be attributed to a person but rather to a state, and the continuation of this occupation…embarrasses the US,” Amr said.

Israel has used military courts to prosecute Palestinians from the West Bank since 1967, and 95 percent of cases tried in military courts have ended in conviction.

Human rights organizations have stated that Palestinian “security prisoners” held in Israel were political prisoners whom Israel has detained for prolonged periods without charge under permissive administrative detention laws, the report also said.