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Palestinian Collaborators Executed
by Riham El-Kasaby
JERUSALEM (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Two Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel were executed Saturday in the Occupied Territories.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ratified the death sentences after Palestinian security courts found both guilty of providing Israel with information that led to the killings of Palestinian activists during the last three-and-a-half months of unrest.
The death sentences were carried out despite objections by Palestinian human rights activists who said they were tried in a matter of hours, without lawyers, and with no right of appeal.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, Allan Bani Ouda was shot in a public square as thousands of Palestinians chanted, "God is Greatest."
The other man, Majdi Mikkawi, was shot in a closed execution at the main police station in Gaza, Palestinian police said.
Ouda was convicted after reportedly confessing to Palestinian security officials that he played a part in the November 23rd explosion that killed his cousin, Ibrahim Bani Ouda, in the West Bank.
Majdi Mikkawi was found guilty of providing information that led to the deaths of four Fatah members including his uncle, senior Fatah leader Jamal Abdel Razek, said Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Meddein.
"This should be the fate of every collaborator who helps Israel assassinate our cadres," Fatah activist Youssef Salah said outside the Gaza police station.
The mother of Awni Dheir, one of the four Fatah members killed in the incident, welcomed 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 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 said.
"The executions of those two criminals will be a message to everyone who might think to betray his people and his homeland," said Palestinian Justice Minster Freih Abu Meddein.
He added that collaborators with Israel should turn themselves in so that justice could be served.
"We will guarantee their safety. They should turn themselves in voluntarily before it is too late to avoid punishment," he said.
Saturday's executions brought to five the number of Palestinians put to death by the PA since 1994, when the Authority took control of most of the Gaza Strip, and parts of the West Bank.
Four other suspected Palestinian collaborators with Israeli security forces were on trial in Bethlehem and have been given sentences ranging from death to life imprisonment.
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