On Nov. 7, an unidentified attacker shot and killed Ayman Rajabi in
front of a Hebron court, where he was to have been tried for murder, Middle East Newsline reported. The
23-year-old Rajabi, tried for the killing of a member of a rival clan, was
shot five times despite a heavy police escort. The attacker escaped.
The Rajabi case was to have marked one of the first murder trials by the
PA in years. The sources said PA officers failed to respond to the shooting
and allowed the attacker to drive off to what appeared to be the
Israeli-controlled section of Hebron.
"The location of the court enabled the perpetrators to easily escape to
the Israeli-controlled part of the city," Mohammed Hashish, president of the
Hebron Magistrate, said.
Within minutes, Rajabi's clan retaliated for the killing. The sources
said Rajabi's relatives, many of them wielding firearms, attacked the homes
belonging to the rival clan in Hebron.
The unrest has underlined the failure of the PA to operate a judicial
system. The European Union has trained special judicial police to protect
courts, prosecutors, judges as well as suspects.
"We are worried about the safety of residents of the southern part of
Hebron where both families live," a PA official said.
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