OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 8 August 2003 — Sixty French Jews arrived in Israel earlier this week and were discreetly moved to various West Bank settlements, the Israeli Yediot Aharonot daily reported yesterday.
The immigrants arrived late Tuesday and were moved to settlements including Ofra, Eli, Koshov Yaacov and Beit El and others where they will study Hebrew for a year and then decide on their definitive place of residence.
Only 120 French Jews opted to live in Jewish settlements in 2002, the paper noted. The US-backed peace road map stipulates that Israel must freeze its settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, three gunmen executed a Palestinian in the center of the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday after accusing him of being a collaborator, witnesses and security sources said. The three said they were from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, witnesses said.
“The guy had a mask on and had his hands tied behind his back,” one witness told AFP. “Before they shot him, they took off his mask. They then said he was a collaborator and we sentence him to death.” The trio pumped around 10 bullets into the victim’s back before fleeing shortly after 4:30 p.m., witnesses said.
