Meretz leader Yossi Sarid condemned the executions:...

Meretz leader Yossi Sarid condemned the executions: "As a person who opposes assassinations of Palestinians by Israel, I believe I have the full moral authority to call on the PA to stop the executions," he said. United Arab List MK Abdul Malik Dehamshe was quoted by Itim as saying that the executions are an "internal PA matter". Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On said that as a former director of B'tselem who has fought for years to protect Palestinian rights, the public executions carried out after unfair trials were "horrifying." She said she asked PA Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein to call on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat to halt plans to execute two more suspected collaborators. The Public Committee Against Torture condemned the executions and called on Arafat to abolish the national security court which sentenced the two to death. B'tselem issued a statement opposing "any governmental authority's use of the death penalty under any circumstances. The fact that in these cases the defendants were not accorded a fair trial, had no effective opportunity to defend themselves and no opportunity to appeal makes these executions especially grave." The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza issued a statement condemning the executions, which it described as cruel and barbaric. The council also condemned Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres for meeting with Arafat despite the executions. Rami Barhum, the head of the organization of Palestinian collaborators in Israel, said that Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat had reneged on a promise made in the Oslo Agreements not to punish collaborators.