JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The Palestinian Authority said Friday it was trying to stop Islamic militants from exacting vigilante justice by killing Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.``The Palestinian Authority rejects and condemns every attempt by any party to take the law into its hands and it will pursue any such attempt and its perpetrators, whatever the reasons and justifications,'' said a statement by the authority.
A Palestinian man believed to have collaborated with Israeli security forces was found dead earlier in the day near Bethlehem in the West Bank, police said. He had been shot in the face.
At least five other alleged collaborators have been murdered since an uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September. The Palestinian Authority itself tried and executed two collaborators in January, to international condemnation.
Pressure is increasing on the Palestinian leadership to root out collaborators who assist Israel in its policy of tracking and killing intifadha activists. (Read photo caption below)
Palestinian security courts sentenced four men to death by firing squad this week for collaboration and Palestinian police arrested 60 suspected collaborators in the West Bank town of Tulkarm on Thursday night.
Several other suspects were arrested in the West Bank city of Nablus earlier this week, police said.
Protesters in Bethlehem and in Nablus demanded a crackdown on collaborators. In Nablus the funeral took place of a Palestinian killed on Thursday by Israeli troops.
Hundreds of mourners cried for revenge for Israeli attacks. An Israeli helicopter strike against offices of the Resistance Islamic group Hamas in Nablus on Tuesday killed eight people, including two children.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Palestinian Ahmad Abo Eisheh (C) awaits sentencing at a Palestinian court in the West bank town of Nablus August 2, 2001. A Palestinian Authority security court sentenced the Palestinian man to death for collaboration with Israel over the killing a week ago of a senior Hamas official Salah Darwazeh. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini
- Aug 02 12:21 PM ET