6 Palestinians Held; Land Sales Alleged

JERUSALEM —  Palestinian security forces have arrested six West Bank Arabs on suspicion of selling land to Jews, Palestinian Atty. Gen. Khaled Kidra said Thursday.

The arrests are the latest actions in an intensifying campaign to halt such sales, described by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat as the work of “traitors.” Palestinian Justice Minister Freih abu Medeen this month announced that any Arab who sold land to Jews could face execution.

The declaration has drawn condemnation from the United States, Israel and human rights groups.

Palestinians, including Arafat, defend the policy as necessary to block the spread of Israeli settlements on occupied land, an issue that has become especially pointed since Israel started work in March on a housing project in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem.

Those arrested this week, all from the West Bank town of Hebron or nearby villages, are believed to be the first detained since the policy was announced May 5, when Abu Medeen said the authority would hold swift trials and execute Arabs convicted of selling property to Jews.

In the last month, however, two men have been killed, both in connection with the suspicion, however tangential, that they were involved in land sales. Their bodies were dumped in Palestinian-ruled Ramallah. A third man, also a land dealer, has been missing for several weeks, according to Israeli media reports.

East Jerusalem resident Farid Bashiti, 70, a real estate broker widely believed to be involved in land dealings with Israelis, was found beaten to death May 9. Bashiti’s family buried him in secret.

Israel accused the Palestinian security services of complicity in the death. Israeli police have arrested several people in the case, including a Palestinian police officer.

Palestinian officials deny the allegations. “The authority is not backing such crimes,” said Sammy Kanaan, a spokesman for the Preventive Security Services. “If there is someone who committed an offense, he has to be tried, not executed.”

The body of a second man, building contractor Harbi abu Sarah, was found eight days later in an olive grove. He had been shot in the head. Palestinian news reports linked the death to suspicions that Abu Sarah years before might have helped in the sale of Arab-owned land to Jews.

But in his village of Ein Yabroud, religious leaders, neighbors and relatives interviewed this week suggested an array of other explanations for Abu Sarah’s slaying, including business disputes, a feud with another family and allegations of infidelity to his two wives.

“It’s very possible that this man was falsely accused,” said Sheikh Munir Nabulsi, the Muslim leader of Ein Yabroud, who prayed over Abu Sarah’s body at a well-attended funeral.

Police in Ramallah also said Abu Sarah had no connection to land sales.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department on Wednesday characterized the Palestinians’ threat as “reprehensible.”

“The United States condemns any law or any decree that would threaten death against any Palestinian for selling land to Israelis or Jews,” State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killings as “monstrous.” The policy “reeks of anti-Semitism,” Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh said.

But Israel on Thursday came in for criticism of its own, with the release of an Israeli pathologist’s report that a Palestinian prisoner died of wounds he suffered in a beating while in police custody.

Palestinian officials accused Israeli police of torture in the death of Khaled abu Dayeh, 37, whose funeral in Bethlehem late Thursday set off clashes between Israeli troops and stone-throwing Palestinians. An Israeli police spokesman denied the accusation, saying that Abu Dayeh died suddenly after he was restrained from attacking doctors trying to treat a minor injury.

The Israeli Justice Ministry said it will investigate the death.