PALESTINIAN "JUSTICE"

Israel's Informers - Real and Imagined - Richard Miron
Adel Ahmed and his family are shunned by their neighbors in Kfar Deek in the West Bank. Adel and his family are considered to have committed the greatest crime in Palestinian society - collaboration with Israel. He vigorously denies the charge. But he has paid heavily for his alleged crime, losing his livelihood, his social position, and one of his sons. His trouble began, he claims, after his sister was molested by some Palestinian Authority officials. He then complained to the government, only to have the officials turn on him and accuse him of collaborating with the Israelis.

Adel was arrested by the PA and tortured. Half his teeth were knocked out and his arm broken during his interrogation. Then his eldest son was taken and also tortured. Next they came for his youngest boy - only 12 years old. His arms were burnt with melted plastic and cigarettes. The boy displays small round scars near his wrists as evidence. Finally, he says, masked men abducted his middle son Shafi; the next time Adel saw him, he lay dead in the road, having been shot 14 times.

According to a Palestinian human rights group, Adel Ahmed's experience is increasingly common, with approximately one person a day killed after having been accused of collaborating. (BBC News)