PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY FOR SELLING PROPERTIES TO JEWS

A Palestinian Authority court in Ramallah on Monday sentenced a Palestinian American citizen to life in prison with hard labor for his involvement in the sale of properties to Israeli Jews.

The man, Isaam Akel, was arrested by the PA last October despite holding an Israeli ID card in his capacity as a resident of east Jerusalem.

The US State Department and the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman had protested against the incarceration of Akel by the PA.

"Akel's incarceration is antithetical to the values of the US & to all who advocate the cause of peaceful coexistence," said Friedman on Twitter in November. "We demand his immediate release."

"We are aware of reports that a US citizen has been sentenced by a Palestinian court," a senior US official told The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv. "When a US citizen is incarcerated abroad, the US government works to provide all appropriate consular assistance."

Palestinian sources said Akel, a resident of Bethlehem, had worked for the PA Ministry for Local Government before his arrest.

"The 55-year-old man, who is a US citizen, is being interrogated by the Palestinians security agencies in Ramallah for his role in the sale of an Arab-owned house in the Old City of Jerusalem to a Jewish organization," sources told The Jerusalem Post upon Akel's arrest.