Last update - 00:00 02/07/2007
Court sentences Palestinian to 2 life terms for murdering woman
By Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondent
Haifa District Court on Monday sentenced Palestinian national Jafar Abu Hanani to two life sentences for murdering a woman as part of a bid to join a terror cell.
Abu Hanani, 28, of the West Bank village of A'arabeh, killed Dina Guetta in 2001 in Haifa's port.
He made contact with the Omar al-Mukhtar cell that had ties with Hezbollah operatives in Jordan, and was instructed to kill a Jew in order to be accepted into the organization.
Following his orders, Abu Hanani and an associate arrived at Haifa's port where they met Guetta who worked as a prostitute on Ha'atzmaut Street. Guetta went with Hanani and his associate to an alley where she was murdered.
Abu Hanani was convicted as part of a plea bargain with the Haifa District Prosecution, by which he will serve only 8 out of the 16 years sentenced by a military court for national security offenses, in parallel to his life sentence.