Palestinian rights group alleges judicial abuse

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian human rights group al-Haq accused the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday of undermining judicial independence in the occupied West Bank and appealed to Western donors to intervene.

Al-Haq director Shahwan Jabbarin said Palestinian security services in the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway, and in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip were functioning illegally and "are running the country".

"I tell the donors it's high time they pressured the Authority to implement its commitments towards the independence of the judiciary," Jabbarin told reporters.

Jabbarin said military courts were issuing arrest warrants against civilians and undermining a civilian judiciary that had undergone reform and improvement in the West Bank.

Al-Haq, he said, had registered the detention of 280 Palestinians on political grounds in the West Bank and 100 in the Gaza Strip.

"Subjecting civilians to military jurisdiction severely infringes upon the fundamental rights of Palestinians and the rule of law," Jabbarin said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has said authorities had made some mistakes, but added that he remained committed to a security and judicial reform plan in the West Bank.

Hamas has denied any political agenda in arrests its forces have carried out in the Gaza Strip.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Writing by Wafa Amr, Editing by Alison Williams)