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Monday, December 04, 2006

Another PalArab "human rights" org

I found another Palestinian Arab "human rights" organization based out of Gaza, Al-Mezan, that again downplays internal PalArab security issues and emphasizes any perceived Israeli issues. But digging deep in the website I saw that they do pretend to keep track of internal security incidents, although without giving details so I can see which they are missing.

It is still instructive to see how the number of internal PalArab incidents soared as Israel left Gaza, even if the numbers themselves seem underreported:

STATISTICS ON INCIDENTS OF SECURITY UNREST IN THE GAZA STRIP

No. of the victims during the last four years.

Year
Incidents
Injured
killed
Kidnapped
No.
minors
No.
minors
foreign
Pals
2002
3
2
0
2
0
0
0
2003
39
111
9
18
3
0
0
2004
121
178
6
57
6
6
10
2005
394
895
151
101
23
16
23
16/8/2006
453
636
77
107
15
14
40

Incidents of the state of insecurity and internal violence during the period 3/3/2002 to 24/8/2006

Type of incident No. of incidents
family feud 199
Conflict between political factions 43
Conflict inside the PNA apparatuses 13
Clashes between political factions and security apparatuses 60
Clashes between families and security apparatuses 29
Clashes between families and political factions 16
Firing in Ceremonies 21
Firing in Marches 11
Misuse of weapons 90
Assassination of traitors 4
Kidnapping 83
Killing 70
Assault against employees, public characters and foreigners 101
Closure of road 57
Assault against Institution 163
Explosion 67
Other 73


I suppose "Other" includes honor killings.

The main site will occasionally mention some internal security chaos but will downplay it or ignore it most of the time. For example, the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah in the beginning of October left about 12-15 dead, but Al-Mezan had a single article mentioning two deaths and no follow-up. Meanwhile, every minor Israeli incident is highlighted.

This biased, anti-Israel site (which, along with other Palarab "human rights" organizations, supports PalArab human shields that HRW condemned) is funded by:
Core Donors
• Netherlands Representative Office (NRO)
• Swiss Agnecy for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• Global Ministries of Churches (Kerkinactie)
• International Commission of Jurists- Sweden
• Norwegian Representative office(NORAD)
• The Ford Foundation(FF)
Project Donors

• Mertz Gilmore Foundation
• The French Consulate (funded the library in 2002-2003)
• Swiss Agnecy for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• The Ford Foundation
• Save the Children Sueden (SCS)