Sep. 7, 2004 23:55 | Updated Sep. 8, 2004 0:11'Collaborators'...

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    Sep. 7, 2004 23:55 | Updated Sep. 8, 2004 0:11

    'Collaborators'


    Unlike, say, Philadelphia cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, Muhammad Abu Kainas and his son, Rami, will not become international celebrities as they face a potential death sentence in a Gaza City court house. Nor will their names be long remembered if they are convicted of "collaborating" with Israeli security services and executed by an Arafat execution squad. Indeed, they will not even be commemorated on any list of victims of Palestinian "justice": No such lists are kept by anyone.

    What crime have the Kainases, father and son, allegedly committed? As reported by Khaled Abu Toameh in yesterday's newspaper, PA prosecutor Wael Zakout has told the Palestinian court that the two were informants for the Shin Bet since 1987, that they tipped off the IDF to the whereabouts of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in June 2003, leading to a failed assassination attempt, and that they also gave away the location of Ra'fat Za'anin, another Hamas leader the IDF killed in 2003. The Kainases, who have been disowned by their families and who cannot afford a lawyer, deny the charges.

    The Kainases are not the only Palestinians in this predicament: some 60 other alleged collaborators also face execution by a Palestinian Authority that has stepped up its campaign against these supposed traitors. Some may indeed have spied for Israel; others, no doubt, are the victims of "denunciations" by commercial rivals, jealous neighbors, or jilted lovers. The caliber of justice these defendants can expect to receive is surely not very high.

    But assuming the Kainases are guilty, one might ask, guilty of what? Spying for the enemy? Last we checked, the PA had committed itself to the road map, which requires it to put men like Rantisi and Za'anin in prison. Of course it has done nothing of the kind, and pretends that it can't. "With what police force and with what guns?" it asks. Presumably, with the same police and the same guns that may shortly be used to execute the Kainases. But never mind that.

    Then again, what are we to make of yesterday's comment by PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei that Israel not only ought to expect retaliation for its strike on a Hamas training camp, which killed 14, but that such retaliation "will be justified"?

    It's important to be clear about what Israel did yesterday. First, the strike was carried out in retaliation for the twin Beersheba bus bombings, for which Hamas claimed responsibility and which the Palestinian Authority publicly condemned. Second, the training site – a soccer field by day – was used, inter alia, to prepare bombs used in suicide attacks. Third, according to the Palestinians, all 14 killed where Hamas "fighters"; there were no innocent bystanders among the dead.

    So here we have Qurei, the man even the Bush administration continues to do business with, failing to take any action against terrorists, justifying future acts of terrorism, and taking vigorous action against those Palestinians who aid Israel in fighting terrorism. How exactly does this make him the acceptable face of the Palestinian Authority to the wider world? In what fundamental respect does this distinguish him from Yasser Arafat? Indeed, what distinguishes him from such Hamas apologists as Tariq Ramadan, whose visa the US State Department recently revoked?

    It is becoming increasingly plain that the notion of Palestinian "reform" is a farce. Even more farcical is the notion that genuine reformers in the PA could ever spring from Arafat's ranks. This is not merely because they remain answerable to Arafat. Rather, it is because they remain his ideological fellow-travelers, and whatever differences they may have politically or tactically disappear as far as Israel is concerned.

    It is commonly said that Israel must continue to deal with the current PA, first, because it is not up to us to pick their leaders, and second, because "there is no alternative." But as the distinctions between Hamas and the PA blur, "there is no alternative" assumes an entirely different meaning. And while it is true that Israel has no right to choose Palestinian leaders, Israel certainly is entitled not to speak to a Palestinian leadership that has already justified the next suicide bombing. Remember that the next time Arafat or Qurei "condemn it completely."



 
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