Palestinians Execute 'Collaborator' in Town Square

Reuters ^ | 7/2/04 | Wael al-Ahmad

[TexKat]

QABATIYA, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian militants publicly executed an accused collaborator with Israel with machineguns in a West Bank town square on Friday after a throng of Palestinian onlookers called for him to die.

Wild celebrations broke out among the hundreds of spectators after four gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, shot father-of-two Muhammad Rafiq Daraghmeh, 45, in Qabatiya.

Militants had hustled Daraghmeh into the square before assembled townsfolk and told them: "This man, as you know ... gave information to Israel on the whereabouts of our fighters. What should his sentence be?"

"Execution!" roared the crowd.

The militants gunned down Daraghmeh seconds later and residents both young and old cheered and chanted around his prone, bloodied corpse. A Reuters correspondent witnessed the execution.

Militant groups have killed at least 30 compatriots accused of being informers for Israeli forces fighting an almost four-year-old revolt in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Qabatiya residents said Daraghmeh had guided soldiers to hideouts of militants where they were captured or killed.

"It was necessary to make (Daraghmeh) an example for others to deter them from collaborating," said Jamal Abu Rab, local commander of the Brigades and regarded as the town's strongman.

A relative of Daraghmeh said he had been disowned by his clan. "What he did was shameful. We considered him no longer one of us. We don't know if we will even retrieve his body for burial," said the cousin, who asked not to be named.

But some residents were quietly critical of the execution. "Daraghmeh should have been tried in a Palestinian court so he could defend himself. Only a judge can pass sentence, to avoid random killing," said a town worker.

Palestinian Authority officials also voiced dismay.

"We want every act to be carried out via legal channels and oppose anyone who behaves otherwise. However, we are incapable of enforcing law and order in Palestinian areas (subject to) occupation," said Local Government Minister Jamal al-Shobaki.

SPREADING VIGILANTISM

Militants defend executions of collaborators by saying Palestinian security forces are powerless to act because they have been crippled by the Israeli army clampdown on the uprising for statehood, or by their own internal feuding.

The Authority has bemoaned spreading vigilantism but also Israel's assassinations of many prominent militant faction leaders in air strikes.

Israel's increasing success in pinpointing the shadowy movements of militant leaders and pre-empting suicide bombings by catching perpetrators en route to their targets is due partly to an effective network of Palestinian informers.

Dozens of suspected informers have been in Authority jails for years while others increasingly fear for their lives since Israel tracked down and killed Hamas leaders Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in Gaza in March and April.

Many alleged turncoats have been motivated by money in an impoverished region with massive unemployment, Palestinian security officials say. Rare travel privileges and sexual inducements have also been reported.

Security officials have urged militants to turn over suspects for investigation and prosecution rather than engage in vigilantism often driven by rumor or a desire to settle scores.

[PreviouslyA-Lurker]

Be prepared to be shot at in that T-shirt...

[SirLurkedalot]

"serpentine ,serpentine" The In-Laws...quittin' bells ringin...g'night all.

[Piranha]

How nice...a Fourth of July community get together on the town square.

I think I'd prefer barbecue, corn and maybe a local band or two, but it's probably just me.

[Teacher317]

Oh, goody. Palestinians, not satsified with merely blowing themselves up while trying to murder others (and sometimes getting blown up while making the bomb, while storing the bomb, while transporting the bomb, or failing to actually kill any innocents), are happily killing each other. Pretty soon, there won't be any left to raise such a fuss over!

[PreviouslyA-Lurker]

The only part of that post that I think I understand is g'night all.

[Ciexyz]

This is the scum that France is always ready to embrace and endorse.

[antiRepublicrat]

A Reuters correspondent witnessed it? Why aren't there Israeli troops there to witness it, and mow down these animals?

[VeniVidiVici]

Militants had hustled Daraghmeh into the square before assembled townsfolk and told them: "This man, as you know ... gave information to Israel on the whereabouts of our fighters. What should his sentence be?" EXECUTION!!

Well, seems to me we should do the same thing to Saddam. Looking at the (lack) of outrage from the international community, this is allowed.

[TexKat]

A militant of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, prepares his machine-gun before executing Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek, 42, center, in downtown Qabatiya, a Palestinian village in the nothern West Bank, Friday July 2, 2004. A local leader of the group said Abdel Razek had been captured by the group on Friday and that during interrogations, he admitted that he had spied for Israel since 1989 and had repeatedly abused his daughters.(AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

Jamal Abu al-Rob, left, a local leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and another militant escort Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek, 42, before executing him in the center of the nothern West Bank village of Qabatiya Friday July 2, 2004. Abu al-Rob said Abdel Razek had been captured by the group on Friday and that during interrogations, he admitted that he had spied for Israel since 1989 and had repeatedly abused his daughters.(AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

A militant of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, prepares his machine-gun before executing Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek, 42, center, in downtown Qabatiya, a Palestinian village in the nothern West Bank, Friday July 2, 2004. A local leader of the group said Abdel Razek had been captured by the group on Friday and that during interrogations, he admitted that he had spied for Israel since 1989 and had repeatedly abused his daughters.(AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

42-year-old Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek falls on the ground as he is shot by militants of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, not seen, in front of a crowd in downtown Qabatiya a Palestinian village in the nothern West Bank Friday July 2, 2004. The man was executed for allegedly collaborating with Israel and sexually abusing his two young daughters. A local leader of the group said Abdel Razek had been captured by the group on Friday and that during interrogations, he admitted that he had spied for Israel since 1989 and had repeatedly abused his daughters.(AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

[Salem]

"...Only a judge can pass sentence, to avoid random killing," said a town worker."

LOL!!  

Where's this guy been living?!





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[Slings and Arrows]

Jordanian doesn't require quotes, as there actually is a country named Jordan.

[SirLurkedalot]

Yes!

[SirLurkedalot]

Peter Falks advice to Alan Arkin on how to run while being shot at..."serpentine",from the movie "The In-Laws"

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL!!  

Where's this guy been living?!

---

Really ! No Shiite !

Reuters: Palestinians Execute 'Collaborator' in Town Square

Militants had hustled Daraghmeh into the square before assembled townsfolk and told them: "This man, as you know ... gave information to Israel on the whereabouts of our fighters. What should his sentence be?"

"Execution!" roared the crowd.

The militants gunned down Daraghmeh seconds later and residents both young and old cheered and chanted around his prone, bloodied corpse. A Reuters correspondent witnessed the execution.

---

Had this been one of the al-Aqsa Murderers Brigade people that was killed, the Reuters headline would likely have been something like:

Innocent man savagely murdered in Qabatiya city square

[Nix 2]

http://nixtwo.blogspot.com/2004/05/what-abuse.html

[VOA]

Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek, 42

Going against the gang of murderous thugs must age a man.

The poor fellow look like he's in his sixties, at the least.

[sauropod]

"Palestinian militants publicly executed an accused collaborator with Israel with machineguns in a West Bank town square on Friday after a throng of Palestinian onlookers called for him to die."

Barabbas! Free Barabbas!

[PreviouslyA-Lurker]

Thank you for the explanation.