While free societies have a difficult time punishing even the most obnoxious speech, human rights organizations fear the P.A. will find it easy. It has already jailed citizens for questioning the official explanation of a death, or including in a university exam an essay question about P.A. corruption. The biggest hammer, of course, will be reserved for those the P.A. accuses of involvement in terror. In the past, Arafat's forces have arrested hundreds of individuals in anti-terrorist sweeps, detaining them for months, usually without charge. Last week, the P.A. began a new round of arrests after an attempted Hamas attack on a busload of Israeli schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip in which one escorting Israeli soldier was killed along with the bomber.
Torture is routine in P.A. prisons.
Among the methods used are beatings, sequential immersion in cold and hot water and chaining suspects to chairs. One corpse bore markings from an electric drill. When trials take place, they are often conducted in secret, with suspects denied legal counsel. All these abuses are well documented in the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights, and U.S. officials maintain a quiet dialogue with the P.A. on the subject. But the second part of the conversation is private.