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Palestinians grant amnesty to suspected collaborators with Israel

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January 16, 2001 

GAZA CITY-- (AP) , The Palestinian Authority announced Monday that it is granting amnesty to suspected Palestinian collaborators with Israel who turn themselves in within the next 45 days.

The amnesty offer came as the body of a suspected collaborator was found in a West Bank village, and six alleged informers surrendered to Palestinian police.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's government stirred international outrage after two suspected collaborators were executed by firing squads over the weekend. The two men allegedly helped Israel assassinate Palestinian militia leaders.

Monday's amnesty offer appeared aimed at blunting international criticism and thwarting Israel's campaign against Palestinians suspected of involvement in attacks on Israelis. More than a dozen deaths of Palestinians have been attributed to Israeli commandos in the past two months.

In announcing the amnesty, Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein said that "the main target for this declaration is just to protect our people, and stop the assassination of our cadres and our people by Israel."

"We have discovered that Israel's policy ofassassination is based on the help of those people and we, as the Palestinian Authority, should stop that and protect our people," Abu Medein told The Associated Press in an interview.

Informers who surrender will be given protection, jobs and a guarantee that their names and past activities will be kept secret, the justice minister said.

The Palestinian Authority will also pay a monthly stipend to the families of the two Palestinians executed Saturday for their alleged roles in the deaths of an Islamic militant bombmaker and a leader in Arafat's Fatah movement.

In the West Bank village of Burkin, near the town of Nablus, the body of Mohammed Moussa, a suspected collaborator, was found Monday. He had been shot several times, Palestinian police said.

Six suspected informers turned themselves in, four in Gaza and two in Nablus, according to Abu Medein and Palestinian security officials.

It was not immediately clear whether the amnesty would affect the fate of two Palestinians sentenced to death over the weekend in a military court in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Two other men received life sentences in that trial.

The European Union said it deeply regretted the executions. "I also appeal to President Arafat to commute the death sentences handed down Saturday," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said in the statement issued on behalf of the 15,nation EU. Sweden currently holds the EU's six,month rotating presidency.

The EU also urged Arafat to consider a moratorium on the death penalty.

Arafat is the only one who can authorize an execution. He still must decide whether to uphold the death sentences in the Bethlehem trial.

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi condemned the executions and said the practice was inconsistent with humanitarian law.

However, Abu Medein noted that even the United States has the death penalty. "Why in Palestine should this ... be forbidden?" he asked.