The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to Cases PAL/16 to PAL/49, concerning persons who were all elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/180/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 179th session (October 2006),

Recalling the following information on file:

• The parliamentarians concerned, two of whom (Nayef Al-Rojoub and Omar Matar) are also government ministers, were elected on the list of Change and Reform in the January 2006 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council; most of them were arrested at 2 a.m. on 29 June 2006 in the occupied West Bank, along with more than 30 ministers and mayors; on 25 September 2006 a military appeal court in the West Bank overturned an order for their release on bail issued on 12 September 2006 by the Ofer military tribunal, and they have remained in detention since; according to the information provided by the Speaker of the Knesset on 22 August 2006, they were arrested "because of their membership in an unlawful organization, similar to past and current arrests of other members of this organization […]";

• On 30 June 2006, the Israeli Interior Minister revoked the East Jerusalem residence permits of Mr. Muhammad Abu-Teir, Mr. Ahmad Attoun and Mr. Muhammad Totah, who is also the Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, on the grounds that although they were deemed to be residents of the State of Israel and therefore obliged to pay allegiance to the State of Israel, their actions, namely membership in the PLC, proved that their allegiance was to the Palestinian Authority;

• The arrests and withdrawal of residence permits came in the context of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped on 25 June 2006 in a cross-border attack on Israeli military installations, which the Israeli Government blames on Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and which both entities refute,

Considering the following information provided by the Deputy Speaker of the PLC and Mr. Abderrahman Zaidan:

• the charges brought against the parliaments concerned are membership, leadership and action on behalf of a terrorist organization and the underlying argument is as follows: you are a PLC member, elected on the Change and Reform list supported by Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, hence you are a member of a terrorist organization and, as a member of parliament, assuming a leadership role; the parliamentarians concerned are tried by military courts mainly in the West Bank, sometimes also inside prison; they do not recognize the competence of the court to try them; the trial hearings, which are not public, are constantly postponed; lawyers have limited access to court files since prosecution material is often declared secret and, in this case, they are not given a copy of the charges; the court proceedings are usually as follows: the accused PLC member is brought into the court room and put in a cage; when the judge enters they are asked to stand up, which they refuse to do, and are then ordered out of court, which puts an end to the hearing; more recently, some of them have been asked to bear witness against their colleagues to testify that they were elected on the Change and Reform list; if they refuse they are sentenced to two months' imprisonment for contempt of court; according to the Israeli so-called Tamir law, if there are two witness statements against a person, that person can be charged as accused by the witness and no further statement from him or her is needed; in a conversation with the lawyers of the parliamentarians concerned, the military prosecutor stated in March 2007 that he intended to ask for a sentence of 42 months' imprisonment, which, since at the time they had already been in detention for six months, would have amounted to serving their entire legislative term of four years;

• the parliamentarians concerned are held in several prisons inside Israel, usually located far from their homes (for example the three parliamentarians from Jenin are held in the Negev); the procedures upon arrest and the conditions of detention, including in the case of the parliamentarians concerned, are as follows: upon arrest, detainees are strip searched, including an inner-body search; during interrogation, they are usually handcuffed and tied to the chair; when being moved to the interrogation room, they have to wear darkened ski glasses;

• upon arrest and during the interrogation period, detainees, including the PLC members concerned, are kept in solitary confinement in small cells with no access to newspapers or TV; once the interrogation period is over, they are often held together with one or two other prisoners in small cells which are usually equipped with one water tap but with little water running, TV and sometimes a toilet; there is no fresh air only ventilation, no sun, always dim light, and cells are insulated in such a way that no outside noise can be heard; prisoners are deprived of their watches, so that the body clock no longer works; as regards visiting rights, only first kin relatives (including wives) are allowed to visit them, but permission is not always granted; more generally, prison visits are difficult because the PLC members concerned are held in prisons in Israel and a special permit to enter Israel is required, which is difficult to obtain; they have access to a limited choice of newspapers and TV channels; the parliamentarians concerned reportedly do not receive the medical care they require; Palestinian or other Arab doctors face many obstacles to being able to examine them; the delivery of letters, books and medicaments is prohibited by the Israeli authorities or unjustifiably delayed,

Recalling that in early June 2006, the Israeli Interior Minister revoked the East Jerusalem residence permits of Mr. Muhammad Abu-Teir, Mr. Ahmad Attoun and Mr. Muhammad Totah on the grounds that they were deemed to be residents in the State of Israel and, therefore, obliged to pay allegiance to the State of Israel; but that nonetheless their actions - membership in the PLC - proved otherwise and indicated that their allegiance was to the Palestinian Authority; an appeal against the decision is pending; noting that there are reportedly other PLC members holding East Jerusalem residence permits whose residence permits have not been withdrawn,

1. Deeply regrets that the Israeli authorities have provided no information on the situation of the parliamentarians concerned;

2. Recalls that the persons concerned were elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006 on the Change and Reform party ticket, and that the international community, including Israel, considered the elections to have been free, fair and secure;

3. Considers the charges brought against them to be untenable, which seems to be borne out by the absence of any proper trial; and continues to believe that they were arrested and are still held not on any lawful grounds of specific criminal activity but rather on account of their political affiliation and hence for political reasons in defiance of fundamental human rights to freedom, security and to a fair trial;

4. Firmly recalls that, under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, no arrest shall be arbitrary and no one shall be held responsible for criminal acts committed by others; refers in this respectto Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (on the protection of civilian persons in time of war), which specifically provides that "no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed";

5. Remains deeply concerned that the arrests not only prevent the parliamentarians concerned - a third of the elected Change and Reform parliamentarians - from carrying out the mandate for which they were elected but also greatly prejudices the right of the Palestinian people to be represented by persons of their choice;

6. Once more urges therefore the Israeli authorities to release the parliamentarians concerned forthwith or to bring without any further delay well-founded charges of specific criminal activity against them and try them in a fair and transparent legal process, guaranteeing full defence rights, as required under international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

7. Is appalled at the treatment reportedly inflicted on the parliamentarians concerned upon arrest and at their conditions of detention, and fears that some of the measures taken are merely designed to humiliate them; urges the Israeli authorities to respect the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and to provide the persons concerned with the medical care they require;

8. Would appreciate receiving a copy of the indictments, if any, issued in these cases;

9. Requests that a Committee member be authorized to visit the parliamentarians concerned; asks the Secretary General to take the necessary steps to this end, and hopes that the Speaker of the Knesset will give favourable consideration to this request;

10. Remains concerned at the revocation of the East Jerusalem residence permits of Mr. Muhammad Abu-Teir, Mr. Ahmad Attoun and Mr. Muhammad Totah, and recalls that, in keeping with Article 45 of the Hague Convention (IV) of October 1907, which is considered to enshrine rules of customary international law, theinhabitants of occupied territory, such as East Jerusalem, shall not be compelled to swear allegiance to the occupying power; notes that appeal proceedings are pending and would appreciate being kept informed of their outcome;

11. Requests the Secretary General to convey the resolution to the Israeli authorities and to the sources;

12. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 117th Assembly (October 2007).

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* The delegations of Palestine, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Venezuela, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan, Chile, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Canada, Somalia and Qatar took the floor in support of the resolution. Their observations may be found in the Summary Records of the 180th session of the Governing Council.

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