Collaborator: I was a king, but now I am nothing

Thursday March 31, 2005 21:43 by IMEMC & Agencies

A Palestinian collaborator, who worked as a front man for Ateret Cohanim yeshiva - known for its attempts to buy lands from Palestinians – charged the Yeshiva of forging documents in order to grab lands in East Jerusalem.
 
Mohammed Maraga, 39, said that he worked for the Yeshiva since 2000, buying land and properties from Palestinians and handing them to Jews.

Maraga has sued Ateret Cohanim in a Jerusalem magistrate's court for failing to keep its agreement with him.

He said he bought several properties in the Silwan neighborhood for the Jewish group, and that a six-story building was set up on one of them without permits from the municipality.

According to Maraga, the yeshiva paid him hundreds of thousands of shekels and gave him a rented car and trips abroad, but has now left him penniless.

"I was a king, but now I am nothing," he said.

Ateret Cohanim said in response that Maraga had forged two of the documents he presented them in 2003, but they did not report this to the police and continued to work with him.

The two sides were recently negotiating compensation for Maraga, who said that the claims of forgery had been raised by Ateret Cohanim only recently. 

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