At a session held in Gaza City on Monday, the Palestinian Authority's State Security Court sentenced Haidar Ghanem, a human rights worker and journalist, to death by firing squad after finding him guilty of collaborating with Israel. As a field researcher for B'tselem in Rafah, it appears that Ghanem's real crime was his habit of asking local Palestinians the types of questions PA officials find potentially embarrassing. Though Ghanem did admit in court to having served as an informer, there is reason to believe that his confession was forced. 

Indeed, shortly after his arrest, B'tselem issued a statement saying it was "deeply concerned that Ghanem was arrested because of his work with the organization. B'tselem also fears that the purpose of his arrest is to deter human rights workers from carrying out their work honestly and with the intention of uncovering the truth." The group further noted that the PA often tries suspected collaborators before "kangaroo" courts, and expressed its concern "that torture is being used in Ghanem's interrogation." 

That an organization such as B'tselem would make such allegations against the PA is a sure sign of just how severe the situation in the areas it controls has become. The group has a long record of sharply criticizing Israel, while turning a blind eye to systematic Palestinian violations of human rights. 

In the past few months alone, B'tselem has alleged that Israel "willfully adopts the tactics of terrorists," accused IDF soldiers of being "trigger happy," and bemoaned what it termed the "IDF's loss of any moral compass." Its press releases, too, often parrot Palestinian propaganda. 

Interestingly, though, B'tselem and other like-minded groups have been largely silent about the PA's habit of trampling on the most basic of civil liberties that is, until it affects them directly. In the past two weeks, the PA sentenced three other Palestinians to death for "collaborating," while another received a life sentence. But it is only now, when one of its own employees is the victim of the PA's version of jurisprudence, that B'tselem sees fit to come out in full force against the PA's record on human rights. Perhaps, if B'tselem had devoted its energies over the past decade to highlighting the PA's dismal record, many of the abuses now taking place under PA auspices might have been avoided. 

Indeed, if Arafat's speech Tuesday in Ramallah is any indication, PA violations of human rights seem destined to continue. Speaking to the Palestinian Legislative Council, he again insisted that he plans to hold elections in January. The election scheme, together with the approval of a new PA cabinet, are designed to project the image of a new, sleeker PA, one that has reformed its ways and abandoned the corruption and malfeasance that have come to typify its rule. 

As Ghanem's lightning trial and all-but-predetermined conviction make clear, though, Arafat's reforms are little more than window dressing. His new cabinet is a Palestinian version of the Soviet-era Potemkin village, which was built primarily to fool foreigners into believing the Russians had really created a workers' paradise. Likewise, Arafat is hoping that the "international community" will be taken in by his reshuffling of various ministerial posts, thereby deflecting the mounting pressure upon him from Israel and the US. 

But democracy is far more than just a matter of who holds which position. It is, at its core, about the values of freedom that guide a society and the protections put in place to safeguard those freedoms from tyranny and abuse. With the Ghanem trial, and those of the other "collaborators," Arafat and the PA have demonstrated once again that rather than laying the groundwork for democratic reform, they would much rather serve as obstacles in its path. Maybe if the Palestinians had a B'tselem of their own, better progress might be made

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