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PA to factions: Leave collaborators to us
You gotta love paranoia. All failing ârevolutionaryâ organizations consume their own as they fail. The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday warned all Palestinian factions against killing suspected "collaborators" with Israel, saying it was the only party authorized to deal with such people. A senior PA official disclosed that more than 150 Palestinians were being held by the PA on suspicion of collaboration with Israel. He said the majority of the suspects were arrested in the past three years, and that some had confessed to passing on information to Israel that led to the assassination of Palestinian wanted men. The official said the PA was planning to bring some of the suspects to trial before special security tribunals in the next few weeks in an attempt to deter others from assisting the Israeli security forces. The warning not to kill suspected informants came amid increased calls by Hamas and Fatah to crack down on those who assist Israel in tracking down their members. Following the assassinations of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the two groups vowed to launch a campaign to "eliminate traitors." The armed wings of Hamas and Fatah announced earlier this week that they have decided to form an "anti-collaborator" hit team to track down and kill Palestinians who have links with the Israeli security forces. Over the past week, at least four alleged collaborators were killed in separate attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Two of the killings, in Tulkarm and Beit Rima near Ramallah, were claimed by Fatahâs armed wing, the al-Aksa Martyrsâ Brigades, while Hamas said its members killed another two near the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The man killed in Beit Rima was identified as Mohammed Husan, 30. Villagers said he was forced to announce through the loudspeakers of a mosque that he had been collaborating with Israel since 1997 and that he was responsible for the killing of wanted men. Less than 24 hours after Husan was executed in the village center, the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades published a statement announcing that he had been killed by mistake and that he was innocent. The group also sent an apology to the victimâs family, saying a further investigation revealed that he was not a "traitor." Collaborators â a phenomenon that affects the entire Palestinian society Col. Rashid Abu Shabak, head of the PA Preventative Security Service in the Gaza Strip, said Wednesday that the PA was the only party authorized to pursue the collaborators and bring them to trial. "As long as there is a Palestinian Authority that is responsible for internal security, then it must assume its role in fighting against these agents and prosecuting them," he said. Abu Shabak noted that the PA had taken several measures in the past against Palestinians who collaborated with Israel, including the detention of some who allegedly assisted Israel in carrying out targeted killings. "We have caught a number of collaborators whom we believe helped Israel in the recent assassinations of Palestinian leaders," Abu Shabak added. "But for security reasons, we are not planning to make public all the information that we hold. We have arrested a number of collaborators and the investigation is continuing." The PA security official urged all Palestinian factions to provide him with whatever information they have about the identities of collaborators so that the security forces would be able to deal with them. Abu Shabak expressed regret that the other Palestinian factions were not helping the PA security forces in their mission. Posted by: Phil B 2004-04-28 |
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