Hamas Looks to Root Out Israel's Spy Networks
By REUTERS
GAZA (Reuters) - The alleged spy buried his face in his hands inside a Gaza
jail as he admitted passing intelligence to Israel during its battles with
armed Palestinian groups.
"My handlers in Israel called me and told me that collaborators in Gaza
don't know one another and that each worked alone, so hide and stay as you
are," the man told visiting reporters, under the watchful eye of a
plainclothed Hamas security officer.
"I should have turned myself in. This is my problem now. Maybe if I had, you
wouldn't find me here," he said.
The Islamist Hamas government, which is pledged to Israel's destruction by
force of arms, is lauding a recent campaign to root out informants in its
midst, which it hopes will deprive Israel of a subtle but effective tool.
The muscular 41-year-old, who did not give his name, missed the deadline to
turn himself in and will not receive leniency when his case goes to trial,
Hamas says. Fellow prisoners listened to his anguish over his unknown fate
through metal windows in the concrete corridor.
The Hamas Interior Ministry says the month-long campaign which ended on
April 11 was a policy shift away from harsher tactics against spies accused
of passing on vital information, such as the whereabouts of arms' depots or
top militants.
These tip-offs are believed to have helped Israel plan its air strikes
during the eight-day conflict with Hamas last November, when Israeli jets
hit some 1,450 targets, killing more than 170 Palestinians, including many
civilians.
The militant group used to broadcast chilling confessions of collaborators
and put the worst offenders to death.
In scenes that shocked the world, seven suspected spies were yanked from
Hamas custody in Gaza during the November conflict and shot dead in the
street. One corpse was dragged by motorbike through Gaza city by
pistol-waving men shouting, "God is Great."
But in this latest campaign, publicized through billboards and mosque
sermons, Hamas's Internal Security Service (ISS) promised to treat those who
surrendered of their own volition gently.
The campaign, Hamas says, was meant to bring wayward citizens back into the
fold and counter through persuasion the espionage it says Israel gains
through manipulation.
"We've made a media and educational effort to inform the Palestinian public
about collaboration...the worst and most dangerous tool the occupation
(Israel) uses against our people," said Mohammed Lafi, the deputy ISS chief
who led the campaign.
He declined to reveal how many Gazans had stepped forward, saying such
information would benefit Israel. In all, Hamas says only "tens" of spies
are languishing behind bars.
ISRAEL RECRUITS
Collaboration with Israel is widely reviled by Palestinians, who see spies
as traitors to their people.
"Do they feel mercy for the kids who get torn into pieces and to leaders
whose bodies are burnt to death? Why should I feel mercy for him?" said Huda
Adel, an office secretary, voicing sentiments shared by many Gaza residents.
Locals often refuse to marry their sons or daughters to relatives of
convicted or dead collaborators.
"It's horrifying how your life can turn into hell in a blink of an eye," the
brother of a jailed alleged spy told Reuters, taking deep drags from his
cigarette.
Sitting nervously in a Gaza cafe, the man said many people shunned his
brother's family when rumors of his deeds spread.
"Will his daughter marry? Will anyone accept to marry his boy?" the brother
worried.
Minister of Interior Fathy Hammad said Hamas's new policy aimed to emphasize
that spying was an individual act and offered anonymity to anyone who handed
themselves in to avoid the inevitable backlash from their neighbors.
"As a community we should support the family whose household fell to the
devil," Hammad told Reuters.
Many confessed spies say they were offered coveted Israeli permits to move
in and out of the crowded coastal enclave, which struggles under tight
restrictions from neighboring Israel and Egypt. Others were in Israeli
custody and agreed to become spies in exchange for commuted sentences.
Rights groups say Israel also tries to force Gazans in need of outside
medical treatment to become spies.
Others simply sought cash, feeding information via secret cell phone chips
or coded emails.
A senior Israeli official told Reuters the informants were necessary because
"Israel faces a very real threat from Gaza, as Hamas regards every Israeli
civilian as a legitimate target".
Israel pulled its troops and settlers from the territory in 2005 but has
come under regular rocket attack since then. In response, it imposed a
stringent blockade on Gaza and has waged two short wars in a stated effort
to stop the missiles.
The official called the Hamas government a "Stalinist authoritarian regime"
whose measures against suspected spies amounts to "brutal and arbitrary
violence against the people of Gaza, using collaboration charges as an
excuse".
FEAR AND FAVOUR
Since taking power in 2007, Hamas authorities have executed 14 people,
including six convicted spies. Hammad said his ministry reserved the right
to execute more spies in future.
Hamas's political rival, the Palestinian Authority which has partial control
over the nearby, occupied West Bank, also comes down heavily on alleged
spies. Last week, a member of the Palestinian security forces was condemned
to death for being a collaborator, although his sentence will almost
certainly be commuted to life in jail.
Human Rights Watch said the amnesty plan was an improvement to Hamas's usual
legal practice, which it says often involves incommunicado detention and
evidence extracted through torture.
"Steps by Hamas to provide an alternative to the detention and trial of
alleged collaborators should be encouraged given the severe problems with
its justice system," senior HRW researcher Bill Van Esveld told Reuters.
ISS deputy head Lafi, for the first time disclosing details on its jailing
policy on convicted spies, said most of those already in jail whose crimes
were not serious would be freed after serving two-thirds of their sentences.
The offer will not spare veteran spies, and those whose work led to the
killings in Israeli bombing raids or assassinations of militant leaders,
Hamas said.
But with almost one third of Gazans unemployed and 80 percent of households
living below the poverty line, local NGOs believe some young Gazans will
continue to be drawn to espionage in return for Israeli cash, regardless of
Hamas crackdowns.
"The Gaza government should treat some of the reasons why Israel's security
forces manage to get through to victims, such as poverty," said Samir Zaqout
of the al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, which is based in Gaza's Jabalia
refugee camp.
(Additional reporting by Noah Browning; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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