Posted on 02/18/2005 6:38:47 AM PST by Piranha
In one of his first policy decisions as head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has approved death sentences for three Arab men accused of helping Israel.
Gaza governor Sakher Bseso announced earlier this week that Abu Mazen had transferred several cases of people sentenced to death under Yasser Arafat’s regime to the mufti (arbiter of Islamic law) of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri. Abu Mazen then signed the decisions, authorizing PA executioners to carry out the death sentences.
Shurat HaDin – The Israel Law Center condemned the decision, and though the identity of the three men was not released, speculated that the condemned men were most probably Yusef Hassan Sinwar, Muhammad Abu Kainas and his son, Rami Kainas.
Sinwar, 31, was sentenced to hanging by a PA military tribunal in October 2004, after an hour long "trial." He was convicted of assisting the IDF in capturing fugitive terrorists.
Abu Kainas and his son were similarly convicted in a Gaza military court of charges that they tipped off the IDF to the whereabouts of Hamas chief Abdel-Aziz Rantisi in June 2003, even though it lead to a failed assassination attempt, and that they also gave away the location of Ra'fat Za'anin, a Hamas leader the IDF successfully killed in 2003. The father and son were displayed to journalists in September 2004 at a police station in Gaza operated by Mohammed Dahlan's PA forces.
Another PA prisoner, Walid Hamdiya, has been on death row since 1995. In October 2002, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. Hamdiya's sentence, however, has not yet been carried out. Several other accused Israeli agents being held in PA prisons are facing capital charges although they have not been "convicted" as of yet.
"At a time when Israel is recklessly preparing to release hundreds of dangerous Palestinian terrorists from its jails as a goodwill gesture to Abbas," stated Shurat HaDin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, "The Palestinians are reciprocating by carrying out the executions of suspected Israeli agents. Israel must immediately abandon the planned terrorist release and takes steps to stop the death sentences from being implemented."
In August 2002, Shurat HaDin petitioned the Palestinian Authority's Minister of Justice for permission to appear in the Gaza security court to defend another accused Israeli agent, Akram Mohammed al-Zatma, who was charged by the Palestinian preventive security forces with assisting Israeli military forces in their targeted killing of Hamas and Fatah leaders. The PA rejected its request.
In December 2000, Shurat HaDin filed a similar petition with former Justice Minister Freih Abu Meddein on behalf of another accused Palestinian collaborator, Alan Bani-Odeh. Again, the Shurat HaDin request was denied by Abu Meddein. The next day, a Palestinian security court sentenced Bani-Odeh to death in the course of a ten minute "trial" during which masked Hamas gunmen roamed the court room. Shortly afterwards Bani-Odeh was brought to the public square in Shechem (Nablus) and executed by a PA firing squad.
Even a PA human rights groups joined the condemnation of Abu Mazen. Bassam Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), said that Abbas' decision to refer the cases to Sabri doesn't bode well for PA democracy. “On the one hand, Abbas talks publicly about democracy, human rights and pluralism; but on the other hand, he transfers the names of 51 Palestinians to the mufti, which is against international rules and human rights,” Eid said. “I see it like the other side of the same coin that was Arafat.”
Ping!
It's a pseudo-conservative strain of the mental disorder known more commonly as "liberalism." It goes by the name "neo-conservatism". Apparently, Sharon has caught it from Dubya.
WHAT?!?!?
He should hold them in exchange, and turn them all over dead if something becomes of the three Arabs.
What is Israel going to do with Gaza? It's full of angry Arabs, almost no Jews.
"It's a pseudo-conservative strain of the mental disorder known more commonly as "liberalism." It goes by the name "neo-conservatism". Apparently, Sharon has caught it from Dubya."
Eh?
Ping!
Does this surprise you? Remember, Abbas/Abu-Mazen is the guy who funded the '72 Munich Olympic Games massacre. He's a terrorist to the core.
What a peaceful gesture by the new PA bossman. [/sarc]
The single. Even better.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel ping list.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
If Israel won't stay in Gaza, then they better completely wall off that area.
Allow one or two tightly screened checkpoints for Arabs to pass thru for work or commerce only.
The problem is that it won't stop the Arabs from launching Qassam rocket attacks on nearby Israeli setlements.
*************
Israel hasn't much to bargain with-but she has an opportunity here to save three lives and perhaps more in the future by suspending the release of these prisoners.
No complaint from me. If they see it as treason, what can you really say? Every nation executes traitors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.