IPT News
August 1, 2011

Mark Parsons. Photo Courtesy of John Parsons.

Since Oct. 15, 2003, John Parsons of Wayne, N.J., has fought for a measure of justice for his brother Mark, one of three Americans murdered by terrorists in Gaza that day. But the Palestinian Authority has blocked the FBI from investigating the murders of Mark Parsons, 31; John Branchizio, 36: and 30-year-old John M. Linde, Jr. All three were employees of DynCorp, a Reston, Va. firm that provided security for U.S. officials based in Tel Aviv.

Today, nearly eight years later, no one has been brought to justice for the crime.

The State Department and the FBI have failed to press the issue for fear of undermining PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah organization, John Parsons told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. FBI officials declined repeated requests for interviews about the investigation.

In May, the FBI released 124 pages of documents about the case under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The documents show that the Bureau and State Department officials moved quickly to investigate, with a seven-man FBI team arriving on the scene the following day. But the crime scene was not secured; allowing unruly mobs to contaminate evidence, and U.S. investigators were struck by rocks as they tried to collect evidence.

The situation on the ground was dangerous and that no one was in control – so much so that the U.S. officials thought they might be kidnapped or killed. The American investigators hurriedly collected as much physical evidence as possible and headed straight back across the border to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Read More:

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3074/justice-elusive-for-americans-killed-in-gaza