Murderer laments negative impact of prison life

on his stamp collection



Issa Abd Rabbo, who tied up two Israeli hikers

and then shot them in the head,

complained that while in prison

he couldn't update his stamp collection properly

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik





Terrorist Issa Abd Rabbo murdered two Israeli university students, Ron Levi and Revital Seri, who were hiking south of Jerusalem on Oct. 22, 1984. He tied them up at gunpoint, put bags over their heads, and then shot both in the head. He was serving two life sentences until he was released in October 2013 as one of 104 terrorists whom Israel agreed to release to fulfill the PA's precondition for renewing negotiations.



Recently, the official Palestinian Authority daily honored Issa Abd Rabbo with an interview, reporting that the murderer "has enthusiastically resumed his hobby [of collecting stamps], which the occupation had prevented him from [pursuing] during the 30 years he spent in the occupation's prisons." In the interview, Abd Rabbo complained of the "many restrictions" in prison that made it "difficult for me to pursue [my] hobby":





"I'm proud of the stamps I collected in prison, but it was difficult for me to pursue [my] hobby in prison, because there were many restrictions, few letters arrived, and the [poor] quality of the stamps. Prison also affects our hobbies, and I had no special albums to put the stamps in properly, so I put them in an envelope - the same one that left prison with me."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 8, 2014]





Recently,

Palestinian Media Watch

reported on another interview with Abd Rabbo in which he

calmly described his murder

of the two young Israeli civilians:





"I tied them up of course and then sentenced them to death by shooting, in the name of the revolution. I shot them, one bullet each, and went [hiding] in the mountains..."



[Independent Palestinian news agency Ma'an TV, Jan. 9, 2014]



Click to view







Click

to see examples of PMW's documentation of the PA's policy of honoring terrorist murderers.



The following is a longer excerpt of the report on murderer Abd Rabbo and his stamp collection in the official PA daily:





"Released prisoner Issa Abd Rabbo has enthusiastically resumed his hobby, which the occupation had prevented him from [pursuing] during the 30 years he spent in the occupation's prisons.



Abd Rabbo told our correspondent: 'I have resumed my hobby of stamp collecting with enthusiasm, to make up for what I lost during my time in prison'...



Before his arrest, Abd Rabbo collected stamps, and among them was a collection of Jordanian stamps he had cut out of postal envelopes. After his arrest, he tried to pursue his hobby in prison, because he was certain he would be spending a long time in the new place. Indeed, after the period of interrogation, he started collecting stamps from letters sent to prisoners...



Abd Rabbo said: 'I asked each prisoner to save the envelope for me so I could cut out the stamp or stamps attached to it. During my long time in prison, I collected 100 stamps, which accompanied me whenever I moved between nearly all of the occupation's prisons'...



He said: 'I'm proud of the stamps I collected in prison, but it was difficult for me to pursue [my] hobby in prison, because there were many restrictions, few letters arrived, and the quality of the stamps [was poor]. Prison also affects our hobbies, and I had no special albums to put the stamps in properly, so I put them in an envelope - the same one that left prison with me.'"



[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 8, 2014]



Note: Issa Abd Rabbo - murdered two Israeli university students, Ron Levi and Revital Seri, who were hiking south of Jerusalem on Oct. 22, 1984. He tied them up at gunpoint, put bags over their heads, and then shot and murdered both. He was serving two life sentences until he was released in October 2013 as one of 104 terrorists whom Israel agreed to release to fulfill the PA's precondition for renewing negotiations.