Palestinians Form Panel to Monitor Self-Rule : Mideast: Commission will seek formal status to prevent abuse of power by new authority.

Determined that respect for human rights and the rule of law will be embedded in their political system as it develops, 14 leading Palestinian intellectuals on Wednesday announced the formation of a commission to monitor the new Palestinian Authority.

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi, former spokeswoman of the Palestinian delegation to peace talks with Israel, said the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights wants the status of an ombudsman, with the power to investigate and prevent abuses of authority and misuse of public funds.

The commission hopes initially to help shape basic legislation, including a strong bill of rights, under which the Gaza Strip, the West Bank town of Jericho and eventually the rest of the West Bank will be governed, Mikhail-Ashrawi said.

But she said the panel is already investigating a variety of complaints, including what appears to be the first political detention by the Palestinian police, a possible financial conflict of interest by a member of the Palestinian Authority’s governing council and the confiscation of property in Jericho.

Many Palestinians have been concerned that strong democratic institutions be established quickly as the Israeli occupation ends in the Gaza Strip and West Bank so that the Palestinian government there does not develop into another Arab autocracy.

Describing the effort as “an unusual precedent in the Arab world,” Mikhail-Ashrawi said the commission had encountered suspicion and open hostility in some of its initial investigations.

“People tend to be very defensive,” she said. “They don’t like anyone looking over their shoulders.”

Dr. Mamdouh Aker, a leading West Bank surgeon and prominent human rights activist, described the commission’s work as “even more of a challenge and a necessity as we are emerging into statehood.” He said it should not be delayed until a Palestinian government has been established.

“There is already an authority that is exercising its role and using its power,” he said, “and safeguards should be put in place as that happens.”

Besides monitoring the Palestinian Authority and its security forces, the group plans to help prepare for local and national elections on the West Bank and Gaza Strip; review proposed legislation, and undertake an education program to acquaint Palestinians with their rights.

Although formed independently, the commission expects to get legal status from the Palestinian legislature once that body is elected. This would give the commission the personnel and funding to investigate government officials and agencies.

Meantime, it operates under decree of Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and head of the Palestinian Authority. It has received $586,500 in donations and pledges from European governments and the United Nations to finance its first year of operations.

To ensure its independence, members cannot serve in political positions, and the authority cannot dissolve it, Mikhail-Ashrawi added.

Mikhail-Ashrawi, who was a professor of literature at Birzeit University before entering politics, turned down an offer from Arafat to join the interim Palestinian government in preference to serving as commissioner-general.

In other developments Wednesday, the PLO rejected an Israeli plan to release an estimated 2,500 Palestinian prisoners on the condition they remain in the Gaza Strip.

Under the agreement signed last month by Israel and the PLO, the prisoners were to have been released Wednesday. But Palestinian officials demanded that all prisoners be allowed to return to their homes.