Report: Palestinian Authority confused and off-balance from international criticism for killing Nizar Banat

This report was published by Safa. It rings true but there is no way to check it.

Informed sources confirmed that a high-level security meeting was held in the office of President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last night. The meeting was to discuss concerns about the internationalization of the issue of the assassination by the security services of his political opponent Nizar Banat in Hebron.

The sources indicated that the meeting discussed "frightening scenarios" for the authority; The most prominent of these is the internationalization of the investigation into the assassination of Banat, especially if human rights organizations and his family use international statements criticizing his killing to pursue the case in European courts or with international human rights bodies, or pressure donor countries to restrict funding for the authority until its human rights record is improved.

The meeting was "confused" during the discussion of the proposed scenarios and ways to deal with them, in light of messages sent by local and international bodies, especially European, to the authority calling for a transparent investigation and accountability for the perpetrators of the crime.

Informed sources indicated that the international statements criticizing the assassination of Banat were surprising to the authority, as it did not expect the case to have such an echo at the international level.

The sources pointed out that the meeting also discussed the implications of former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's statements about the assassination of Banat.

They said: "The authority is used to critical statements from opposition organizations and personalities, but it is the first time that someone like Salam Fayyad has spoken in this way about the authority and the security establishment.

"Fayyad is a prominent international figure, and he does not speak arbitrarily, and therefore his statements indicate the need for some change in the power structure, which is the message for which the president's office has mobilized."

Banat's family confirmed that Nizar was subjected to a premeditated assassination as a result of his opposition to the political approach of the Palestinian Authority.

They said that more than 20 armed men stormed the house he was in in the southern district of Hebron, and blew up its entrance, then surrounded Nizar while he was sleeping and beat him with an iron bat on his head, then attacked him with rifle butts, sprayed him with pepper and tear gas, stripped him of his clothes and then dragged him out.

The PA has done outrageous things before, but the international community and media has always let them slide, because Israel was the oppressor in their narrative. Israel cannot be blamed for Banat's death, though, and this was too big to ignore. The Abbas regime does not have any real experience with bad PR from its usual friends. 

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