Mandatory Sentence For Treating Injured Jews Reduced To Lynching

Analysts see the move as an encouraging sign of emerging liberal values in Palestinian society.

Ramallah, July 7 – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed an order today that sets a new, lighter mandatory punishment for people convicted of tendering medical aid to Jews, ordaining that such convicts be put to death by lynching instead of imprisonment in a Palestinian jail.

Following reports of Palestinians who helped several Israelis wounded in a shooting attack near Hebron last week that also killed a father of 10, Palestinian social media buzzed with rumors of the identities of those who provided the aid. Israeli media interviewed the individuals in questions under a cloak of anonymity, as helping Israelis in such a manner runs afoul of Palestinian practice and mores. To forestall social unrest and increase the likelihood that the criminals turn themselves in, Abbas reduced the mandatory sentence for the crime.

Analysts see the move as an encouraging sign of emerging liberal values in Palestinian society. “You would never see Israel reduce a sentence to lynching,” noted Jacob Burns of Amnesty International. “They present themselves as a liberal, Western society, the Palestinians have made a huge stride here that Israel would never make.”

“You can call it a sort of prison reform measure,” agreed Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch. “Since the Palestinian prison system needs work, this kind of order, which prevents a few more people from having to undergo that, is a small but necessary step. This is the kind of initiative that justifies hundreds of millions of dollars per year in aid to the Palestinians.”

Legal experts anticipate similar leniencies to come into effect in other arenas of Palestinian criminal law. “The penalty on the books for selling land to an Israeli Jew is death,” noted legal scholar Michael Sfard. “I think we can anticipate a shifting in that realm, as well, reducing the penalty from that to, for example, being beaten to within an inch of one’s life. Such a lightening of the sentence will move Palestinian law closer to liberal norms, which is a trend the international community should encourage, preferably by throwing piles of money at Palestinian leaders.”

Israeli officials also expressed cautious optimism. “I think within a few decades we might see this trend trickle down to, for example, the treatment of gay and lesbian Palestinians,” predicted MK Haneen Zoabi. “Instead of having to take refuge in Israel because they will otherwise be beaten to death, I think more such Palestinians will be induced to stay, because they will face much less harsh treatment, such as merely having their genitals mutilated.”