[News] Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210624-why-did-the-pa-kill-nizar-banat/ Why
did the PA kill Nizar Banat?
Motasem A Dalloul - June 24, 2021
------------------------------

Today at dawn, Palestinians across the occupied territories were shocked to
learn that a well-known activist in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron,
Nizar Banat, had been killed by Palestinian Authority security forces.

The PA Governor in Hebron, Jibreen Al-Bakri, issued a statement about the
killing. He claimed that the security forces aimed to enforce the law as
they went to detain Banat on the basis of a detention order issued by the
Public Prosecutor. He said that the activist died during the detention
process due to health problems. He did not mention the "brutal" and
"barbaric" way that Banat was beaten on his head and face. Bakri said that
Banat was transferred to hospital, but his friends and family have searched
for him everywhere, and insist that wherever he was taken, it was not to
hospital.

According to Banat's family
<https://www.facebook.com/101737031648310/posts/306184997870178/>, "The PA
security services detonated the door of the house, broke into the building
and immediately started beating [Banat] with iron bars and batons while he
was asleep, along with two of his brothers. They emptied three bottles of
pepper powder in his face when he got up; stripped him of his clothes;
lynched him; insulted him while he was bleeding; kidnapped him; took him to
an unknown location; and murdered him."

Palestinian factions, leaders, activists and international officials have
condemned Banat's "murder". The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement,
Hamas, described what happened as a "full-fledged crime that reflects the
bloody policy of the PA." It blamed the government of Mohammad Shtayyeh for
"this unethical crime which is rejected by all Palestinians and
unacceptable to all Palestinian traditions and norms."

*READ: When will the Palestinians unite?
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210622-when-will-the-palestinians-unite/>
*

The UN Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, wrote on
twitter <https://twitter.com/TWennesland/status/1407984903560511488>:
"Alarmed & saddened by the death of activist, former parliamentary
candidate, Nizar Banat following his arrest by [Palestinian security
forces] in Hebron… I call for a swift, independent & transparent
investigation. Perpetrators must be brought to justice."

The EU Delegation to the Palestinians also turned to Twitter
<https://twitter.com/EUpalestinians/status/1407971830443528195>: "Shocked
and saddened by the death of activist and former legislative candidate
Nizar Banat following his arrest by the PA security forces last night.
Full, independent, and transparent investigation should be conducted
immediately."

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine, Lynn Hastings,
added <https://twitter.com/LynnHastings/status/1407967579403128833>:
"Disturbing news on the death of activist Nizar Banat shortly after his
arrest by Palestinian Security Forces from his home in Hebron. I note that
an investigation has been initiated and call on the authorities to ensure
that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice."

Palestinian activists and journalists joined in the condemnation of the
killing of Banat. Some made it clear that, in their view, he was "murdered"
by the PA.

"The PA murdered Nizar Banat in a shameful way," said journalist and
activist Ismail Al-Thawabteh. "The liquidation by the PA of activist Nizar
Banat today at dawn is strongly condemned and must be deterred in order not
to be repeated.

[image: The wife (L) of the Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who died
during his arrest by Palestinian security forces, grieves in her house in
the village of Dura near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 24 June 2021.
[MOSAB SHAWER/AFP via Getty Images]]

The wife (L) of the Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who died during his
arrest by Palestinian security forces, grieves in her house in the village
of Dura near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 24 June 2021. [MOSAB
SHAWER/AFP via Getty Images]

Thousands of words have already been written and spoken about Banat's
"murder", and his name has trended on Twitter. Why, though, did the PA kill
him?

Nizar Banat was an outspoken critic of the PA, Fatah and the PLO, all of
which are headed by Mahmoud Abbas. He exposed many cases of corruption
linked to them. The latest example was the PA-Israeli deal to exchange
soon-to-expire Israeli Covid-19 vaccines for newly-produced vaccines
intended for the West Bank. The deal was cancelled after it was exposed.

Banat intended to run for the Palestinian parliamentary election, and has
been posting videos on his Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/nizar.banat.alajouri/> page about PA corruption
and criticising the security cooperation between Ramallah and Israel at the
expense of the Palestinian resistance and the principles of the Palestinian
cause.

He was arrested eight times by the PA and tortured because of his views and
activism against PA corruption. He was open about rejecting the peace made
by the PA with Israel because, according to him, it met all the demands of
the Israeli occupation and undermined all the rights of the Palestinians.

Recently, Banat phoned Muhannad Karaja from Lawyers for Justice, and told
him that the PA was threatening him. He explained to Karaja that the PA
intelligence services asked him to end his criticism of the PA and
officials from Fatah and the PLO.

This suggests that the PA killed Nizar Banat to silence him, because he
embarrasses the authority by exposing its conspiracies with the Israeli
occupation plotted against the Palestinians. The PA killed him because he
was a nationalist who believed that the authority is nothing more than a
Zionist project intended to serve the Zionist project in the region.

Even though Prime Minister Shtayyeh has already announced that an
investigation will go ahead, Banat's family, Palestinian activists and
rights groups are sceptical about it being "independent and transparent" as
demanded by representatives of the international community.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian NGO Network has warned that the PA's political
crackdown on its opponents will turn it into "a police state governed by
repression and a disregard for people's lives and their dignity under the
reality of the occupation." It called for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to put
an end to all infringements of civil rights and public freedoms to preserve
the dignity of Palestinian citizens.
*_____________________*

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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