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Palestine activists fear assassination by PA

June 26, 2021 at 3:27 pm

Palestinians protest against the death of activist Nizar Banat in Gaza, on 24 June 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Following the murder of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat by the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s security services in Hebron, Palestinian activists have expressed their fears of assassination, Arabi21 reported on Friday.

The family of Nizar Banat officially accused the PA security services of murdering him after brutally beating him with iron bars and wooden batons.

“The opponents of the PA feel that they could be targeted at any moment by the PA,” activist Issa Amro told Arabi21.

“All of us have received threats from the PA and its security services,” he expressed. “We do not feel that there is a law or an authority that protects us from the thugs of the PA.”

READ: Palestine security forces disperse protest against assassination activist Nizar Banat

He stressed that killing Nizar Banat: “Is killing the democracy and freedom of expression in Palestine,” calling for prosecuting the “killers” and bringing the PA to accountability by the international community.

Director of the Palestine Institute for Strategic Studies Iyad Al-Shorbaji asserted: “This disgraceful behaviour adopted by the PA in relation to its treatment with its opponents reflects the police and security mentality adopted to deal with opponents.”

He continued: “The murder of Nizar Banat bears a message that the PA wanted to send to its opponents and critics, mainly after the scandal of exchanging expired vaccines with the occupation was disclosed,” noting that Banat played a role in disclosing this.

Al-Shorbaji indicated that the PA does not believe that it will be held accountable because: “It is dependent on the occupation, it became its agent.”

READ: Palestinians must ensure that Nizar Banat did not die in vain