Israel has released hundreds of prisoners. Where is the reciprocity? And as if this weren’t enough, Bush is leaning toward working with Hamas. “Israel works to prevent PA execution of 50 collaborators,” from Haaretz, with thanks to a tea-loving snail:
Israel has gone to great lengths to prevent the Palestinian Authority from executing approximately 50 Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel. Along with its appeal to senior PA officials, Israel approached U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer on the matter, and went ahead with the release of Palestinian security prisoners last Thursday only after the PA said it did not intend to carry out the sentences.
Three months ago, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) authorized the execution of the 50, who had been convicted of aiding Israeli security forces. Shortly thereafter, the head of the PA military tribunals, Saib al-Kidwa, said that 15 of the convicted men would be executed in the following weeks, after their sentences had been vetted by the senior religious authority in the PA, Sheikh Akrima Sabri.