Palestinian revolving door policy
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The 'Palestinian revolving door policy' refers to allegations of the Palestinian Authority capturing and then automatically releasing terrorists from prison. It was coined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his election to office in 1996.
Netanyahu asserted that when Arafat was pushed to show concessions he was fighting terrorism, "he would make some show of rounding up a few dozen people, putting them in what I call the revolving door so they come in and out of detention as fast, you know, in one rapid move. I don't think he's done anything serious, I don’t think he’s going to do anything serious" [1]
Netanyahu argued the policy exploited a weakness of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. The Israeli hoped Arafat would renounce terrorism, but more importantly, would also crack down on the terrorist operations of HAMAS, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and other radical movements.
Arafat did not fully comply with his commitments to fight terrorism.[citation needed] Every now and then, under intense international pressure, the Palestinian Authority would "arrest the usual suspects", only to turn them loose once again when international attention waned. This "revolving door policy", a direct violation of the Oslo accords, greatly undermined Israeli trust in its ostensible "partner for peace" and raised serious doubts about Arafat's long term intentions. [2]
The Revolving Door Policy was one of the reasons stated by Netanyahu to freeze further withdrawal from territories. [3] The Israeli government considered the revolving door policy to be a direct violation of the Tit for tat policy.
One of the famous Palestinians who went in and out of the "revolving door" was HAMAS leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
After the Al-Aqsa Intifada and especially after HAMAS went into power, the revolving door policy became void, since the Palestinians stopped imprisoning any suspects of terrorism altogether.
The term "revolving door" eventually became very popular in different contexts.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Human Rights Watch report
- Hebron: Terrorists released then asked to return to jail, "Israeli security sources have frequently slammed the PA's "revolving door" policy, in which murderers and terrorists are arrested and incarcerated for several days, followed by their release and return to terrorism.", Ynet retrieved 03.18.08"
