Palestinians execute two Israeli collaborators

Palestinians execute two Israeli collaborators
REUTERS

GAZA, JAN 13: Two Palestinians were executed by firing squads on Saturday after being convicted of collaborating with Israel.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Allan Bani Odeh was brought to a large yard inside the police compound and tied to a wooden pillar, his head covered and executed, witnesses said.

Palestinian police in blue uniforms and black face masks fired at a red target drawn on his chest as large crowds of onlookers chanted "God is Greatest".

Majdi Mikkawi was shot dead inside a Gaza police station to which the public was not admitted, Palestinian police said.

``This should be the fate of every collaborator who helps Israel assassinate our cadres,'' Fatah activist Youssef Salah said outside the police station.

Palestinian Authority security courts found both guilty ofproviding Israel with information leading to the killing of Palestinian activists during the current uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

More than 360 people, overwhelmingly Palestinians, have been killed since the violence began in late September.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ratified their death sentences on Friday.

The mother of Awni Dheir, one of four Fatah members killed in the incident in which Mikkawi was implicated, expressed joy over the Gaza execution.

``These are tears of joy,'' she said. ``I felt...comforted to hear the bullets and to see the execution has really taken place. I thank President Yasser Arafat."

The Palestinian Authority has now executed five Palestinians since 1994 when it took control of most of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

Four more suspected collaborators were due to go on trial in the West Bank town of Bethlehem later on Saturday.

Mikkawi was found guilty of giving Israel information that led to the killing of four Fatah members on November 22. One was Jamal Abdel-Razek, the defendant's uncle.

Bani Odeh was sentenced to death after Palestinian security officials said he had confessed to playing a part in the November 23 explosion that killed his relative, Ibrahim Bani Odeh, in the West Bank town of Nablus.

Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating the activist from the militant Hamas movement with a missile. Israeli security forces suggested he could have died from the premature explosion of a car bomb he was preparing.

``The sentences were just and fair. They were executed by a firing squad in accordance with the sentences,'' the Palestinian Authority's prosecutor-general, Khaled al-Qidra, told reporters.