Human Rights Watch Accuses Fatah & Hamas of Abuses

No shit. The report naturally blames the US for Fatah's and Hamas' abuses. Surprisingly they don't blame Israel. The report also ignores the fact that Hamas, Fatah and other groups regularily fires rockets, motars at Israel from civilian areas. Killing and injuring innocent Israeli civilians. Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas and Fatah have both carried out serious human rights abuses over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and torture, according to a report on the bitter power struggle.

Human Rights Watch, in the report released on Wednesday, cited a pattern of politically motivated arrests, mock executions and severe beatings in detention centers run by Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in the West Bank.

It faulted the United States and other donors, which have bankrolled Abbas's Palestinian Authority and Fatah-dominated security forces, for "not paying adequate attention to the systematic abuses by those forces".

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According to Human Rights Watch, masked Fatah security men in the West Bank have arrested hundreds of Hamas members and supporters without warrants.

The report said Fatah forces often tortured detainees during interrogation, apparently resulting in one death. Torture methods included mock executions, kicks and punches, and beatings with sticks, plastic pipes and hoses, it said.

The most common form of torture was forcing detainees to stay in "stress" positions, a practice known in Arabic as shabah, which causes intense pain and sometimes internal injury but leaves no physical mark, Human Rights Watch said.

Hamas forces in Gaza committed many of the same abuses, including arbitrary detentions accompanied by severe beatings and, in two cases, multiple gunshots at close range to the legs, Human Rights Watch said. In at least three cases, individuals died in custody, apparently from torture, the report said.