Murderer of two Israeli civilians gets his masters degree in prison (update)

 On January 23, 2001 - Motti Dayan, 27, and Etgar Zeitouny, 34, were abducted and executed by masked Palestinian gunmen as they dining in Tulkarem.

The terrorists took them out to a field, and summarily executed them. Israel immediately clamped a curfew on Tulkarem and vowed to capture the murderers.

The two cousins, both single, were co-owners of the "Yuppies" sushi bar on Tel Aviv's trendy Rehov Sheinkin. They had come to Tulkarem with an Israeli Arab acquaintance who owns a vegetable stand close to their restaurant, to shop for flowerpots for the restaurant. Afterwards they stopped to dine at the Abu Nidal Restaurant on the outskirts of the Palestinian-controlled town.

As they were eating, word spread through the town that Israelis were there. A short time later, the gunmen arrived and dragged the three out of the restaurant, and drove them out of town toward the villages of Iktaba and Bala'a, still in the Palestinian-controlled zone. They reportedly halted at the side of the road near the Nur Shams refugee camp, shot dead the Israeli Jews and let the Israeli Arab go.

One of the murderers was Maslama Thabet.

From Ma'an:

On the 13th anniversary of his detention by Israeli forces, Palestinian prisoner Maslama Thabet has obtained his Master's degree in Israeli Studies from the al-Quds Open University in Abu Dis.

The Thabet family congratulated Maslama and thanked the jailed Fatah senior leader Marwan Barghouthi for supervising his Master's thesis.

The article goes on to say that the free education given to these murderers often prepares them to better fight Israel in the future:

Frequent Israeli targeting of political figures, activists, and educators for arrest often results in high concentrations of educated and politically motivated prisoners in Israeli jails, according to director of the Palestinian Prisoners Society's Ramallah branch, Abd Ala'al Al'anani.

Al'anani added that such educational activity within jails often prepares Palestinian prisoner's for life after they are released, the majority of Palestinians in positions of power today having served long sentences in Israeli jails or faced repeated arrests.

(h/t Yenta)

UPDATE: Thabet's family has complained in the past about how inhumane his prison conditions supposedly are. (h/t Bob K)