Ten Palestinian policemen opened simultaneous fire with their Kalashnikov assault rifles in Gaza police station yesterday, executing the Abu Sultan brothers for the premeditated murders of the Khalidi brothers at a wedding last week.
The putting to death by firing squad of Mr Mohammed and Mr Raed Abu Sultan, both in their mid-20s and both members of the Palestinian security forces, marked the first time that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has confirmed death sentences handed down by his military courts.
Previously such sentences have been commuted by Mr Arafat to life imprisonment.
Journalists were not allowed to witness the executions; instead, the sound of the gunfire was relayed to those outside the police station via a security official's walkie-talkie.
Palestinian "notables" were admitted, however, and the firing-squad ritual was watched by several Palestinian cabinet ministers, other politicians, and interested parties.
One of these was Mr Jamil Khalidi, whose two relatives, Mr Majdi and Mr Mohammed Khalidi, were killed by the Abu Sultan brothers, against the background of a vicious family feud, at last Thursday's ill-starred wedding party. Mr Khalidi said he was pleased Mr Arafat had "made an example of the murderers". The Khalidis are still pressing for the execution of a third Abu Sultan family member, Faris, also convicted in connection with the murders, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour.
In breaking with his precedent and ratifying the death sentences, Mr Arafat appears to have been motivated by two factors: First, growing complaints from Palestinian human rights groups about the lawlessness of Palestinian society, and the apparent immunity from the law of security service members (although the resort to execution is bound to draw intense protests from international human rights groups); and, second, the fact that one of the victims, Mr Majdi Khalidi, was a senior official in Mr Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction of the PLO.
Mr Ghazi Jabali, Mr Arafat's Gaza police chief, said the Abu Sultan brothers had dishonoured their weapons. New regulations have now been introduced limiting the carrying of weapons by off-duty security force members.