Palestinians Now Wear IDF Uniforms to Punish Suspected Collaborators

Palestinians in Nablus wearing exact replicas of Israel Defense Force uniforms are taking action against Arabs suspected of collaborating with the Israeli authorities and are even attacking IDF soldiers, Yediot Achronot reported Monday.

The uniforms, sewn by Arab women working at secret locations, are perfect imitations of IDF uniforms, except for insignia in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

In the past three months, Israeli soldiers have discovered duffel bags containing the uniforms and masks, concealed in niches in the Nablus casbah.

The bags hidden there are retrieved at night by members of so-called “shock committees,” who then don the clothes and proceed to deal with collaborators.

A collection of homemade weapons used in the Palestinian uprising is currently on display at military government headquarters in Nablus.

They include slingshots, brass knuckles, knives, swords and uniforms similar to those used by terrorist organizations.

Also exhibited are Arabic translations of literature on combat from countries where improvised weapons have been used in warfare.

Yediot Achronot also reported that leaders of the uprising in the Nablus area have established underground first-aid stations to treat Palestinians with only slight gunshot wounds, in order to avoid sending them to hospitals where they could be identified and arrested by Israeli security forces.

Ha’aretz reported Monday that the defense establishment has decided that harsher measures are needed to deal with the intifada. Authorities plan to lengthen the period of administrative detention from six to 12 months.

Administrative detention, a holdover from the emergency regulations of the British Mandate era, allows the military authorities to hold a person in jail without trial or charges for a set period, which until now has been six months.