Tel Aviv attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has petitioned the Palestinian Authority for permission to appear in the Gaza Security Court to defend an alleged Arab collaborator with Israel. In a letter to the PA's new justice minister, Ibrahim Abu Daghmeh, Darshan-Leitner asked that she be authorized to provide legal representation for Akram Muhammad al-Zatma, who was arrested earlier this month by PA Preventive Security forces. Al-Zatma, 22, is accused of assisting the IDF in the targeted killing of Hamas and Fatah leaders, and faces a possible death sentence. The Israeli lawyer noted that Arab lawyers in Gaza are too fearful of Islamic militants to appear on behalf of al-Zatma, leaving him with no defense counsel.



In December 2000, Darshan-Leitner filed a similar petition on behalf of another accused Palestinian collaborator, Alan Bani-Odeh. The request was denied. A Palestinian security court then held a ten-minute trial, during which masked Hamas gunmen roamed the courtroom, and sentenced Bani-Odeh to death. Shortly afterwards, Bani-Odeh was brought to a public square in Shechem and executed by a Palestinian firing squad.