Over the years, the name “Nizar Banat” (44 years old) has emerged as one of the most prominent opponents of the Palestinian Authority from the category of independent political activists.
He regularly criticized her performance through video clips and through his account on Facebook, which led to him being arrested several times.
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But the news of his death a few hours after his arrest by the Palestinian security services on Thursday morning shocked the Palestinian street and sparked widespread outrage.
The Governor of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, Jibreen Al-Bakri, announced the death of Mr. Banat in a brief statement, in which he said that a Palestinian security force arrested him on Thursday.
Based on an arrest warrant from the Public Prosecution, “during which his health deteriorated, he was transferred to Hebron Governmental Hospital, where he was announced dead,” but his family accused the “Palestinian Security” of torturing and “assassinating” him.
Ammar Banat, the family’s spokesman, said, “Nizar was arrested at 3:30 am by a security force after blowing up his entrance.
She beat him with iron and wooden batons, sprayed him with pepper gas, and arrested him after he was rudely stripped of his clothes, and he was taken under the beating while blood was dripping from him.
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Later, Palestinian human rights organizations said that “the death of Mr. Banat is not normal.”
This was stated in a joint statement by the Independent Commission for Human Rights (official, but its statute guarantees its independence).
In addition to the “Al-Haq” Foundation and the “Al-Quds Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights” (non-governmental), and retired anatomist Dr. Salim Abu Zaarour.
The statement said, “The observations, after the completion of the autopsy, confirmed the presence of injuries in the form of bruises and abrasions in many areas of the body.
Including the head, neck, shoulders, chest, back, upper and lower extremities, with ligation marks on the wrists and fractures of the ribs.
He added that “the report of the forensic doctor and the family doctor confirmed that the death was not natural.”
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However, Dweik added, “However, determining the main cause of death from a clinical point of view needs some time until the results of laboratory examinations of tissues and fluids appear.”
Many Palestinian factions, including “Hamas”, “Islamic Jihad”, the “Popular Front” and the “Democratic Front” issued strong denunciations of the incident.
Mr. Banat is widely known in the Palestinian street for his boldness and sharp criticism of members of the Palestinian leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh.
His family says that he was arrested more than 8 times by the Palestinian security, and Banat confirmed in previous videos that he was tortured by the security services during his arrest.
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Mr. Banat is a Palestinian refugee whose family was expelled from the town of Ajour in 1948. He lives in the town of Dura in the Hebron governorate. He is married and has five children. He is not known to have any affiliation with any Palestinian political faction.
He expressed more than once his support for the resistance factions in Gaza, and his rejection of the Palestinian Authority’s approach to security coordination with Israel.
The Palestinian exhibitor worked in the field of “decoration” and carpentry.
Banat formed the “Freedom and Dignity” list to run for the Legislative Council elections, which were scheduled for May 22, before a presidential decree was issued (on April 30 last) to cancel it.
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Banat sparked controversy in the Palestinian street after he demanded that the European Union stop financial support for the PA after the decision to cancel the elections, which exposed it to a sharp attack by the Palestinian Authority and its supporters.
At that time, girls said in a video clip on Facebook that armed men “accompanied by the security services” had fired (on May 2 last) extensively at his house and “terrified its residents.”
In the last clips he published, before his death, on June 21, Mr. Banat launched a stinging attack on the Palestinian Authority in response to a “vaccine exchange” deal it had concluded with Israel before the first backtracked.
In a video message posted on his Facebook page under the title “Who is behind the vaccine deal”, he accused the Palestinian Authority of “trading in the lives of the Palestinian people.”
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And last Friday, the Israeli government said in a statement that it had agreed with the Palestinian Authority to transfer about one million doses of vaccines, whose effectiveness will soon expire, to get the same quantity from the manufacturer at the end of this year, in return.
