Two Israeli Arabs were sentenced to death by a military court today for the murder of an Israeli soldier who hitched a ride with them in January, 1980.
Both men, aged 29, are from Ara village, east of Netanya. They had joined El Fatah, the terrorist arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization and confessed to murdering the soldier on orders from El Fatah. One of the men shot their victim in the back of the neck while the other was driving.
The death penalty has rarely been imposed in Israel and was carried out only once, in the case of Adolf Eichmann. In all other cases, death penalties pronounced for capital crimes have been commuted to life imprisonment.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
