In the 25 years since Palestinians gained a degree of self-rule over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, their authorities have established machineries of repression to crush dissent, including through the use of torture.

The Palestinian in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip elected Hamas to run the Palestinian Authority in 2006. Ismail Haniyeh became the Prime Minister according to Palestinian law and the election results — deemed “free and fair” by independent monitors — but the international community and adjacent countries did …

Under a recently enacted law, Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri has expressed his intentions to strip the residency status of 12 Palestinians in Jerusalem, accusing them of being involved in “terror”.

Palestinian factions said on Wednesday they agreed to hold elections by the end of 2018 and praised the unity deal aimed at ending a long-running dispute between Fatah and Hamas. The call for elections was made in a joint statement at the end of two days of closed-door talks in …

The scene was all too familiar: A group of Palestinian men from rival factions Hamas and Fatah, plus a representative of a brotherly Arab country acting as interlocutor, all huddled on a small podium shaking hands before an even larger crowd of journalists. On Thursday, an agreement was signed between …

In a state of secrecy and lack of transparency, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently approved a new cybercrime law that further tightens the noose on Palestinians’ freedom of expression and privacy online. Palestinian media and civil society organizations have slammed the new law and called for its immediate freeze until it is publicly debated …

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained at least 21 Palestinians, including a deputy of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), in overnight raids between Tuesday and Wednesday across the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources. Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a daily occurrence …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently approved a law to battle cybercrime in the West Bank, but some journalists and citizens worry ulterior motives might be involved. The version of the bill Abbas signed June 24 isn’t the one journalists and the public were expecting, said Nabhan Khreisheh, a member of the Union of Palestinian Journalists’ General Secretariat. He told Al-Quds …

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Authority (PA) is set to enact in June a controversial law that will force about half of Gaza’s security personnel to retire, while leaving the West Bank’s force intact. Officials in the security services have started contacting staff members to inform them of …

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained 509 Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory during the month of March, prisoners’ rights organizations said in a joint report on Sunday. The report — written by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, and …