Government and public law

The Hebron factory fire perhaps first and foremost revealed a chain of failures in governmental responsibility, public law and most particularly in enforcement of existing law and regulations.

The first response to the incident from the executive authority was an order by President Arafat that a ministerial committee be formed, with representatives from the Ministries of Industry, Labour, Local Government and Parliamentary Affairs. This decision infuriated the public, especially relatives of victims, who perceived the committee as an essentially unobjective group of people whose members shared institutional responsibility for the tragedy. Tellingly, President Arafat also issued a personal order for US$3,000 compensation to be paid to each one of the victims’ families, in addition to another $1,000 per family to be paid by the Awqaf, the Islamic institution overseeing charitable trusts and religious institutions (Al-Hayat, 26 October 1999). Here the policy appears to have been based on a mixture of personal and religious authority, as well as compassion for the victims, rather than an activation of the rule of law.

The committee issued an initial report on 24 November 2000, which called for the inspection of all factories in the Hebron area. Several that were found to be in violation of safety laws were in fact closed down (Atawneh 1999), although inspections probably did not include the majority of small workshops (of five persons or under) which fall outside prevailing labour legislation. The committee’s initial report encouraged President Arafat to appoint a slew of new officials, including the long-delayed Hebron Muncipal Council, a full-time judge for the Hebron municipality and another for solving labour disputes. He also ordered the immediate establishment of a civil defence headquarters, perhaps in response to the poor perfomance of the municipal fire department, in addition to facilita­ting necessary means for safety committees to enable them to exercise their responsibilities more efficiently (i.e. to monitor safety rules). President Arafat also called on the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) to issue new labour legislation. A new Palestinian labour law was approved by the Legislative Council after the third reading in March 2000, and signed by President Arafat. However, it then seemed to be shelved for many months — one could perhaps speculate that some among the powerful business community were less than enthusiastic about the labour rights protections contained in the text, another example of the pressures brought during the transitional period by different constituencies on the basis of what are perceived as conflicting interests in the matter of ‘national’ legislation. It was nevertheless finally published in the Official Gazette and the date of imple­mentation announced as January 2002.

The preliminary report from the ministerial committee, however, placed blame only on the factory owner, and failed to delineate processes of just compensation, both of which were unsatisfactory to the victims’ families. Nine months later, no final report had been issued. At the time of writing, over a year later, a report has allegedly been issued but is not available to the public or indeed to members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who have requested copies. Thus, while some positive public actions were taken, the full weight of the law was not brought to bear, either to punish the guilty, or to compensate the bereaved, or to respond to the public interest in the case.