Palestinian may have been killed for selling land to Israeli settlers

A Palestinian man shot dead in an Arab Israeli town had reportedly played a role in selling West Bank land to Jewish buyers.

Ahmed Salama, 58, originally a resident of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, was shot and killed on Friday near his home in the central Israeli town of Jaljulya.

A Palestinian Authority source told The National they were unaware of Salama’s involvement in land sales.

But Israeli media quoted Palestinian sources as saying he had avoided entering Area A of the West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, because he feared repercussions over his role in selling property to settlers.

Selling Palestinian land to Israelis is deemed a betrayal in the Palestinian territories.

Since Israel took control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, several Palestinians have been killed by others on suspicion of selling property.

It is punishable by death under the Palestinian Authority’s penal code but President Mahmoud Abbas has never signed off on an execution.

In April, Palestinian religious authorities issued a decree banning the sale of Palestinian property to Israelis.

That Salama’s his murder took place inside Israel’s borders raises the prospect that the Palestinian Authority or elements linked to it may be willing to act inside Israel, and not just occupied territory.