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Israeli arrested on suspicion of handing collaborator over

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January 19, 2001 

JERUSALEM-- (AP) - An Israeli man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of turning a former Palestinian collaborator over to the Palestinian Authority, which has recently executed four alleged collaborators.

The suspect was identified as Shmuel Ashakota, 50, from the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, who has served time in jail for forgery, fraud and car theft.

"He did it because of our situation," Ashakota's wife Ariela said on Israel radio. "We are renting an apartment, we have no money, the situation is difficult. ... He only turned over one man, and he did it for money."

Since Israel's withdrawal from parts of the West Bank, some informers have been allowed to settle in Israel, for their own safety.

The suspect supposedly persuaded one of the former collaborators to get into his car and drove him to the West Bank city of Hebron, where the collaborator was arrested by a Palestinian officer, the Tel Aviv police press office said.

The collaborator was injured, apparently during the arrest, and was admitted to a hospital, from which he managed to escape. He immediately informed an agent of the Israeli Shin Bet security service.

The Palestinian Authority gave the suspect a check for 5,000 Israeli shekels (dlrs 1,215), but it bounced and police now have it.

Ashakota allegedly tried to induce another former collaborator to come with him to the West Bank but failed, police said.

The suspect, married with four children, grabbed a knife and threatened to kill his wife and children when police came to arrest him. Then he threatened to throw himself from the third floor window and swallowed some pills, but police officers overpowered him.

He said he felt unwell and was admitted to hospital.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority has arrested a freelance cameraman, Majdi Jamil Arabit, 35, for selling footage of one of the executions to an Israeli television station, officials said Thursday.

The station, Channel 2, showed a crowd shouting "God is great" as two alleged collaborators were shot by a firing squad.

The Palestinian Authority was angry over the screening, which made headlines across the world, because it made a bad impression and fueled international criticism of the executions.

A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arabit received the footage from a policeman and will be held in custody until he discloses the officer's identity.

In the West Bank city of Bethlehem Palestinians, held a march Thursday to express their support for the execution of collaborators. Some of the marchers wore masks and carried automatic rifles or heavy machine guns.

One of the masked men said if his own brother were a collaborator he would call for his execution. "The parents of the spies must be the first to demand the execution of their sons," he told The Associated Press.