Violence among the Palestinians

Humanist, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Erika Waak

In 1988, the early days of the first intifada, the Unified National Command required that all Palestinians resign from the positions they held in the Civil Administration and end all collaboration with Israel. However, because collaborators were such a convenient way for Israel to obtain information in the Palestinian territories they occupied, Moshe Arens, Israel's minister of defense from 1990-1992, employed a more subtle policy that relied on the work of collaborators and undercover units. This led to the regeneration of the original collaboration network. But the situation changed once again with the establishment of the PA in 1994 and the creation of the Palestinian security services.

But regardless of how well or poorly Israel's collaboration network functions, not everyone accused of collaboration is actually a collaborator. In fact, according to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitor, the definition of collaboration varies greatly from one source to another. For example some Palestinian factions during the time of the first intifada considered dealing in drugs or pornography as collaboration--under the assumption that such immoral behavior undermined Palestinian society and diverted it from the ideals of the uprising.

By the simplest definition, a collaborator is someone who has maintained contact with the Israeli authorities. During the first intifada, Israel defined collaborators as "Palestinians who are registered as having official intelligence contacts with one of the security branches operating in the Territories--the General Security Services (GSS), the Israel Police, the IDF, or the Civil Administration." This definition also includes land sales agents who helped the government gain control of land in the occupied territories. Since the establishment of the PA, however, it has become difficult to identify any reliable definition of collaborators that is used consistently. PA prisoners are put into three different categories: criminals, political prisoners regarded as opponents of the peace process, and security prisoners or collaborators. The Palestinian Human Rights Monitor states:

   There is no formal, written description of what exactly is considered
   collaboration, but according to Hamdi el-Rifi, Director of the Prisons for
   the West Bank and Gaza, security prisoners are accused of either spying or
   selling land to the Jews. In fact, it appears that the label of
   collaboration is applied even more generously than this, to stigmatize
   whatever the regime dislikes. This comprises drug dealing and addiction,
   since taking drugs weakens the Palestinian spirit and therefore, as in a
   zero-sum game, favors the enemy's side.

In some cases criticism of the PA is considered collaboration because criticism is felt to undermine Palestinian unity. Collaboration is a simple accusation that can be used to justify actions motivated through personal interest. Settlement of accounts within factions and families can be justified in similar terms. Steve Lipman, reporter for the Jewish Week, notes that a lot of Palestinian civilians are armed and that "different clans use violence as an excuse to get revenge against people that they don't like."