I have hesitated to comment on this event because it is fairly apparent that protests will be ignored or brushed aside. I, of course, endorse
the sentiments of Janet Shapiro's email and deplore the action. But the
chances of Israel apologising to the Palestinian authorities (an
interesting linguistic point, why can I not write "Palestine"?) appears
negligible.
From the point of view of statisticians, all one can say is that this was
an act of aggression and likely to destroy trust in *any* civil
administration in the area. It is implicit to the profession that when
we say "information is being collected for statistical purposes and will
be held confidentially", that that should be believed. One cannot,
however, legislate against an invader or dictator who does not respect
such niceties.
What may be important is to establish (a) that none of the staff of the
PCBS were complicit in the assault or gave any assistance except under
direct threat, and (b) any statisticians on the Israeli side who take any
part in processing the stolen data will be considered to have breached
their professional duties.
R. Allan Reese Email: [log in to unmask]
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