Palestinians Arrest Man For Smuggling In Government Transparency

Israelis seem to traffic in the stuff more than anyone else in the region, and the authorities view such dealings as suspect.

Ramallah, March 27 – A mid-level official at the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior has been detained and charged with attempts to illegally bring government transparency into the Palestinian National Authority, PreOccupied Territory has learned.

Relatives of Sami Abu Ris, 50, revealed that he was arrested last Thursday by the Preventive Security Service, a Fatah-dominated force loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. Abu Ris, who serves as a regional supervisor for planning at the ministry, never came home that evening from his office. His coworkers reported that PSS personnel had escorted Abu Ris from the ministry, informing his colleagues only that he would be charged with smuggling transparency into the institution, a flagrant violation of procedure and potentially a felony under Palestinian law.

“We haven’t been able to speak to him,” said his wife, Wafa. “Nobody will tell us anything, and his coworkers are afraid to speak to us beyond generalities. Regardless of whether the allegations are true, I want to speak to my husband.”

Officials at the Ministry of the Interior maintained silence on the matter. “There is an ongoing investigation and legal case, and we cannot comment,” said a spokesman who refused to give information until plied with 300 shekels in cash. “Very good. Abu Ris tried to bring in a moderate amount of transparency when he came back from a visit with some Israelis in Jordan last month,” explained the official, who naturally insisted on anonymity. “Israelis seem to traffic in the stuff more than anyone else in the region, and the authorities view such dealings as suspect.”

Experts note that Israeli transparency is particularly galling to many Palestinian officials. “It’s bad enough that somebody is trying to bring transparency – or accountability, or any sense of volition and responsibility – to the Palestinian establishment,” explained Day LeMail, an analyst who studies Middle East politics. “But to make matters worse, it’s transparency from Israel, which is a real slap in the face to the supposed national project of delegitimizing Israel and replacing the Jewish State with another Arab country. All those international efforts to encourage boycotts of Israel become less compelling when Palestinian officials themselves traffic in Israeli products.”

Abu Ris’s fate remains unclear. Even if he is not convicted, he likely faces prolonged incarceration, torture, and mistreatment regardless of a trial, which would also be a mockery of justice, say his family. “He’s never going to get a good government job again after this,” predicted a rueful Hamdallah Abu Ris, his brother. “We can’t even figure out whom to talk to, or whose palms to grease, to get information. The bitter irony here is that even if Sami brought in any transparency, it’s completely inaccessible to the rest of us now.”