B'Tselem Report Collaborators in the Occupied Territories: Human Rights Abuses and Violations, Comprehensive Report, January 1994

e. Killings at Detention Facilities

Since the beginning of the Intifada, according to B'Tselem's data, 44 Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been killed at military, police and Prison Service detention centers by other prisoners, on suspicion of collaboration.

The Palestinian detainees and prisoners normally organize themselves at the detention centers according to their organizational affiliation. In this setting every organization is responsible, among other things, for assuring the well-being and safety of its members and for protecting them from other prisoners who wish to harm them. At many detention centers the Palestinian organizations have also established mechanisms designed to locate collaborators among the prisoners, to interrogate them, and take measures against them. Every new prisoner who comes to the facility is required to declare to which organization he belongs and to report on the circumstances of his arrest. Prisoners suspected of collaboration have also included people who belonged to these mechanisms.¹
One prisoner who survived an attempt on his life has given an account of the decision making and execution procedure in detention centers. He reported that the names of suspected collaborators are normally received from sources outside the facility, on minute notes smuggled into the center by visitors. When the suspect's name is received, a meeting is held of a committee consisting of three or four inmates, who decide whether he is to be interrogated. The committee's decision is recorded on a sheet of paper. The paper is tied to a stone which is thrown into the wing where the suspect is held. The next stage is to extract a confession from the suspect, normally through torture. The suspect generally also suffers from abuse by the other inmates in the wing. On Friday, after prayers, the committee meets and decides on the sentence and how it is to be implemented: strangulation using a towel or bare hands, blows to the head with the fists, or a severe beating of the entire body. After the execution is carried out, the body is left outside the tent, and one of the inmates accepts responsibility for the deed vis a vis the prison authorities. Normally this will be a man who is inside for a long time.²
On June 27, 1988 'Ali Rashid Hijazi al Qassas, a 30-year old construction worker, resident of the Nusseirat refugee camp, married with three children, was killed in the Ketziot Detention Center in the Negev. Al Qassas was arrested on October 7, 1987 on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic Jihad Movement and possession of firearms, and was convicted, and sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment.
After 18 months in jail al Qassas was interrogated by inmates, fellow members of the Islamic Jihad, on suspicion of being a collaborator. The suspicions were based on the confession of Muhammad Abu Jalala, who was also interrogated by inmates on suspicion of collaborating, and murdered in Ketziot on November 7, 1987. Al Qassas was severely beaten by his interrogators, and died from internal hemorrhaging. As far as is known, during his interrogation al Qassas did not admit to the charges.
Muhammad al Qassas, the murdered man's brother, told B'Tselem on August 25, 1993, that friends from other organizations stressed that 'Ali had not admitted to collaborating. The brother added that the army postponed the time for collecting the body until 11:00 p.m., and imposed a curfew on the Nusseirat refugee camp immediately when it was handed over. The funeral was held in accordance with stringent security procedures, since al Qassas was known as a national figure and there was some apprehension that there would be violent reactions during the funeral. “This shows very clearly how popular 'Ali was and what his standing with the people was,” his brother said.
Al-Qassas' family members further conveyed to B'Tselem that after the curfew was lifted, the Islamic Jihad Movement issued a circular emphasizing al Qassas's links with the authorities. Slogans written on the walls in the name of Hamas eulogized al Qassas as somebody who belonged to the Movement, and accused the group which interrogated and killed him of collaboration. According to members of the family, the Hamas demanded that the Islamic Jihad interrogate those responsible for al Qassas's death. Such an interrogation was indeed held, following which the Islamic Jihad executed three Palestinian activists. Fathi a Shaqiqi, one of the Islamic Jihad leaders, even sent a letter to the organization's imprisoned members, insisting that they acknowledge the organization's error in the killing, and demanding that al-Qassas’ and his family's name be cleared, and that his family be compensated including a lifelong monthly stipend for his children.
On August 5, 1989 an attack was made on Ziyad Muhammad, age 28, a resident of the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza and detainee at the Ketziot detention center. Other inmates forced him to drink water containing floor detergent chemicals, after suspicion of collaboration had arisen. One of the prisoners held his nostrils shut, and when he tried to breathe through his mouth, the substance entered his lungs and he died.³
B'Tselem is aware of at least one case of the killing of a prisoner suspected of collaboration, after his release from jail. Muhin a Numra Abu Shaqfa, age 28, a resident of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, was killed in Gaza City on September 24, 1992.⁴

Abu Shaqfa was a bachelor, and worked as a tailor in a sewing workshop in Gaza. At the beginning of the Intifada he was arrested and held in the Nusseirat detention center. Rumors circulated that his fellow inmates had suspected him of collaboration, but had not interrogated him. During the Intifada Abu Shaqfa was again arrested, and transferred to Ketziot. This time the Fatah security apparatus interrogated him. After he had been severely beaten under interrogation, Abu Shaqfa apparently admitted to collaborating and handing over information about his fellow inmates.

Several days later Abu Shaqfa escaped from detention and gave himself up to the detention camp administration. He was moved to the cells for “birds” (see Part B, Chapter 2). After his release he sought to repent, and declared in the mosque of the Shati camp that he felt remorse. Over the mosque's loudspeakers he proclaimed that he had fallen victim to the GSS and collaborated with them, but that he now regretted this and asked for the forgiveness of God and the people, and promised not to repeat the deed.⁵
On September 24, 1992 two men from the Fatah Eagles group kidnapped Abu Shaqfa and brought him to the courtyard that served as a parking lot in the Shati camp. He was removed from the car with his legs and arms bound with rope. He refused to sit down. One of those tormenting him, 'Ahad al Habat, who was unmasked, felled him with a blow. He then pointed a gun at his head and said: “You are going to die, pray.” Abu Shaqfa begged, “No, 'Ahad, I don't want to die,” and al Habat shot and killed him. After that the crowd of spectators began to chant, “'Ahad is an Eagle.”
After that graffiti appeared proclaiming that the Fatah Eagles were responsible for the act. Abu Shaqfa's body remained in the parking lot, and people came to see it, until his father came and began to shout at those present and to curse them. He picked up his son's body and carried it to the car.
The only woman killed in a detention center during the Intifada on suspicion of collaborating was Shifa al Maqusi, age 17, from the village of Bet 'Ula in the Hebron area. Al Maqusi was arrested by the police after running away to Israel with a friend, Mussa al Khatib, an open and well known police agent. Because she was afraid to return home, she threw an empty bottle at an Israeli car, an action that led to her arrest.⁶

On September 16, 1991 she was strangled in her detention cell at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem by a woman detainee named Mai Walid Rassin, age 20, from the town of Betunia near Ramallah. Rassin, held on charges of stabbing a tourist in Jerusalem, suspected al Maqusi of collaboration. She dissolved medication that she was taking in a glass of water and gave it to al Maqusi to drink. Al Maqusi fell asleep under the influence of the medication, whereupon Rassin used a blanket to suffocate her. She said that no other women detainees were involved in what happened.⁷

Photograph: Mai Walid Rassin: Strangled al-Maqusi on suspicion of collaboration

Shifa al-Maqusi: Accompanied her friend al-Khatib on a trip to Israel

Mussa al-Khatib: Police agent, friend of al-Maqusi


5. Forms of Punishment other than Killing
As part of their struggle against suspected collaborators during the Intifada, activists in the Palestinian organizations also made use of forms of punishment other than killing. Cell members involved in punishing suspected collaborators told B'Tselem that the decision to apply one method rather than another was determined by the seriousness of the actions ascribed to the suspect. In imposing the punishment they said that they also took account of the suspects' willingness to repent.
a. Stigmatizing (tashwih) and Social Ostracism
Stigmatizing is achieved by publicizing the fact that an individual is a collaborator, and by writing his name and the accusations against him on the walls of buildings or at the entrances to mosques, as well as in local circulars. The aim of publication is to ostracize the suspect. This method is used primarily vis-a-vis suspects the charges against whom are relatively minor, such as an individual suspected of drug use or other criminal offenses, and not against an individual who is suspected of being employed as a collaborator by the security forces.