Before discussing the development of international and local strategies to protect human rights, I would like to review the strategies and work of Palestinian human rights organizations before the signing of the Cairo accords. Palestinian human rights NGO's started to bloom at the end of 1979 and the beginning of the 80's. The increased international interest in our country and more sympathetic world public opinion that accompanied the rise of the Intifada played an encouraging role in the spread of those NGO's.

The main tasks of human rights NGO's here involved the documentation and exposure of human rights abuses carried out by the occupation authorities, the provision of legal advice, and lobbying the international community to persuade Israel to stop such practices.

In the wake of the signing of the Oslo agreement and the Cairo Accord, Palestinian human rights NGO's face new challenges. Although their basic mandates and objectives remain unchanged, the complexities of the changes occurring require the development of new strategies. It is important to pinpoint the obstacles and complexities arising from the signing of the agreements that affect the work of Palestinian human rights NGO's in securing and protecting human rights.

In the first instance it is important to restate the fact that the agreements have not ended the occupation, even in the Gaza and Jericho areas. This gives rise to a number of obstacles, both for the Palestinian Authority and for human rights NGO's.

It is possible to summarize those obstacles as such:

1- According to the agreement, the Palestinian self rule authority extends only to Palestinian inhabitants.

2- The seed of Palestinian authority sown by the agreements remains for the moment dependent on Israel, which continues to control basic living requirements.

3- Those agreements do not prohibit the Israeli authorities from enforcing new arrangements and facts on the ground.

Given the lack of full independent authority, and given that transitional periods are empirically unpredictable, it does without saying that we are in a period of great expectations and also great disappointments. It is nevertheless the period when basic democratic infrastructures should be laid down. Human rights activists are faced with problems posed, inter alia, by the conflicts in the laws of the two Palestinian Authority areas of Jericho and Gaza, a widespread lack of familiarity with those laws, with legal process and with human rights requirements on the part of many of those in authority, rising and sometimes competing spheres of influence and militarism.

Perhaps of particular note here is the difficulty faced by human rights organizations in identifying the laws and procedures on the basis of which the various elements of the Palestinian Authority is certainly constrained in its legislative authority by the terms of the Gaza-Jericho agreement, there is nothing to prevent it unilaterally declaring and systematizing guarantees for human rights protections in the most basic spheres. The fact that the Israeli authorities do not recognize it as valid legislation and that the judiciary established pursuant to the Cairo Agreement is not formally empowered to enforce it does not necessarily mean that such guarantees would not be enforceable through other mechanisms relying on de facto political accountability.

However, in the absence of such guarantees, and given the obscurity of the legal bases for various of the actions being taken, and the over-riding need to differentiate between individual, public and personal responsibilities, human rights organizations find themselves in a fall-back position of approaching the Palestinian Authority on the basis of the law currently in force and as yet, so far as one can tell, unamended in accordance with the Cairo Agreement.

In order for Palestinian Human Rights NGO's to develop International and local strategies they must ask themselves certain questions:

1- What are their objectives and what goals are they aiming at?

2- Are those organizations following democratic procedures inside their structure and with those with whom they deal?

3- Is their sole objective to serve the public interest in defending people and their rights, or they are aiming at serving factional interests or a particular policy?

On these criteria the polarization of different NGO's will continue. Some of them will transfer to governmental organizations, or become part of the authority structure, or may simply fold.

I believe that in order to adjust to the new circumstances and develop positively there should be a shift in the conception of human rights work from the static mould of providing information to the international community towards human rights diplomacy and the development of initiatives to bring out the positive aspects of the Palestinian authority.

The role of these organizations in the transitional period is essential, in monitoring and following up the realization of minimum basic requirements for the respect and protection of human rights. At the same time, these organizations must review their perspective from that of organizations acting on behalf and in defense of the human rights of an occupied population vis-a-vis the Occupying Power that of organizations sharing a collective national responsibility to strengthen social, economical, political and civil rights. They should work positively against the background of political changes. Human Rights NGO's are at a crossroads and are called on to move from the partial to the comprehensive perspective in order to meet the new challenges.

In addition the work of Palestinian Human Rights NGO's during the transitional period must include monitoring the evolution of the democratic process, a free press, and human rights. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, a free press and so on are an integral part of democratization, which cannot prevail or develop under military law. When we can have them, we need new laws, that are up to the job of providing remedy for human rights abuses and ensuring the respect of all elements of authority for the human rights of the governed. This process will require the election of a legislative council that could lay the foundation for new laws.

Work Strategies of NGO's on the local levels are:-

1- Networking: This should be done in a professional and specialized manner, and should include exchange of information and experience, and the establishment of a watch dog group against human rights abused by states, groups and individuals.

2- Inter-organizational cooperation and coordinations.

3- Raising public awareness of human rights and strengthening the culture of human rights in Palestinian civil society. Human rights education should include the introduction of human rights material in school curricula.

4- Professionalism and independence in monitoring and all other forms of human rights work.

5-Supporting the democratization process in the Palestinian civil society.

6- Monitoring the courts, legal system, police investigations and interrogations to ensure their compliance with due legal process.

7- Monitoring the progress of the negotiations and the content of agreements, in order to draw attention to any potentially negative implications for Palestinian human rights.

8- Developing and implementing strategies of human rights advocacy with the Palestinian Authority and encouraging them to ensure respect for human rights.

9- Playing a pivotal role in preparing for the elections, educating the people on the principles of elections, and ensuring a free, just, open and credible election process.

10- Developing strategies of human rights diplomacy and advocacy with the international community.

11- Activating the local community and ensuring the participation of the under-privileged sectors of society through providing knowledge, expertise, and information to secure and maintaitheir rights.

12- Development of human resources in human rights organizations, including benefiting from international experiences, particularly in the south.

13- Struggling for a free and open press and for the general principle of transparency.

As far as international human right organizations are concerned, I think the strategies should concentrate on the following:

1- Developing and strengthening mutual relationships and promoting functional support for Palestinian human rights organizations.

2- Benefiting from practical and technical help that can be provided by international human rights organizations to develop our own work and strategies.

3- Enabling and encouraging international organizations to implement necessary interventions with their own governments on behalf of Palestinian human rights and human rights activists and organizations by asserting their own government's responsibilities in this regard; this will include their assertion of the need for the direction of their government 's relations with the Palestinian authority to be based on the criteria of the extent to which this authority has adopted responsible policies according to international human rights standards.