Historical Background

 What follows is a brief summary of the findings of PHRMG’s report on the fate of collaborators since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, together with some general information about the phenomena of collaboration and the killings of collaborators during the first intifada.[1]

The use of collaborators by Israel is nothing new. It has existed since the beginning of the Occupation, in 1967. Some Palestinians may have collaborated voluntarily, thinking that they were helping Palestine, or to improve their social and family status. Indeed, collaborators were rather successful in obtaining services from Israel and were therefore used as middlemen by their compatriots. Financial compensation could also be the impetus behind some cases of collaboration. But collaboration is often the result of coercion. Israel uses the services provided in the Occupied Territories by the Civil Administration as leverage to force Palestinians into collaborating. In order to obtain an exit permit, family reunification, import license or any other document or authorization, Palestinians can be compelled to provide information or assistance to the Israeli GSS.[2] Sometimes, the Israeli authorities promise to reduce the sentence of detained Palestinians, or threaten to publicize statements obtained under duress, to pressure detainees to collaborate with Israel. Palestinians also claim that Israel uses a method known as isqat, a form of sexual blackmail in which Palestinians are allegedly lured by Israeli agents or other collaborators, photographed in compromising situations, and then pressured to collaborate under the threat of publicizing the photographs.

Whatever the reasons for collaboration, clearly collaborators are hated by other Palestinians as a symbol of the Occupation, becoming a more accessible target than the Israeli troops themselves. During the first intifada (1987 – 1993), it is likely that more Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians than by Israeli soldiers and settlers. About 1000[3] Palestinians fell victim to the Palestinian cells active in the Occupied Territories and acting on behalf of the different political factions. These cells took over the task of maintaining law and order, which included eliminating collaborators. Collaboration” was more and more broadly defined. Traditionally the definition extended to land dealers (those who sold land to Jews), “spies” (those who provided information to the Israeli GSS or even participated in their operations) and “birds,” the collaborators used in Israeli detention centers to fool other detainees into talking, or to engage in torture in the place of Israeli agents. But soon, drug dealers and people engaging in pornographic activities where also branded as collaborators, since they were deemed to weaken the Palestinian people, hence undermining the national spirit to the benefit of the enemy. No one doubted the need to eradicate the evil by whatever means necessary, to restore the unity of the Palestinian people and to send a signal to other potential traitors.

At the end of this first intifada, the Oslo Agreements included a provision to prevent the Palestinian Authority from seeking revenge against “traitors,” but the commonly accepted interpretation of this provision is that collaborators are only protected from acts committed prior to the agreements. Many people are held by the different Palestinian security services, never officially charged or tried, but branded as “security prisoners,” i.e. collaborators. The Palestinian Authority claims that their detention is, in fact, a means to protect them from the population that might seek revenge by more radical means. These alleged collaborators are abused by the Palestinian security services, especially while being interrogated. At least 12 of the 23 cases of death in custody that the Palestinian Authority so far has recorded are cases of alleged collaboration. This can partly be explained by the fact that the members of the Palestinian security forces are often recruited from the ranks of former armed cells of the intifada, who were responsible for the torture and killing of alleged collaborators prior to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.

“Collaboration” continues to leave a terrible stigma. Families of suspected or alleged collaborators suffer from social ostracism sometimes with serious economic consequences. Neighbors and relatives no longer come to visit. Children are isolated at school, and their trauma affects their school performance. Young men and women cannot marry since no family wants to be related to a collaborator’s family. Lawyers are reluctant to take cases of alleged collaboration for fear of being branded as collaborators themselves. Even the bodies of suspected collaborators are rarely buried in Muslim cemeteries, and are instead laid to rest in private gardens or anonymous stretches of land. The stigma follows them into death.

However, PHRMG’s research reveals that, at the end of the first intifada, the population gradually started showing more leniency towards alleged collaborators. People slowly recognized that collaborators are also victims of the Occupation, since collaboration was forced upon them by exploiting their dependence on Israel. Moreover, as people started losing faith in the Palestinian Authority, they also recognized that the accusation of “collaboration” was being used as a catchall allegation to pursue whoever displeased the regime. The taboo started to be lifted and some families of security prisoners told PHRMG that, far from being ostracized, they found a lot of support in their communities.

With the eruption of the al-Aqsa Intifada, this period of compassion is over. The cycle of violence and repression has spread fear and suspicion throughout the Palestinian population. Fanned by memories of the Israeli undercover units active during the first intifada, Palestinians once again live in fear of their neighbors. The Israeli policy of assassinations has exacerbated this feeling, and the first cases of collaboration that surfaced during this intifada were directly linked to assassinations. But the pursuit of alleged collaborators is undoubtedly also a means to relieve the deep frustration of Palestinians caused by the Israeli occupation and repression. Unable to hit Israel directly, frustration is taken out on real or imaginary Israeli agents in the Palestinian Territories. Furthermore and ever more often, the charge of collaboration is also an easy cover-up for crimes motivated by different reasons, such as family feuds or other disputes. Therefore, it is essential that the Palestinian security services investigate carefully all cases involving the death of alleged collaborators.