And the next paragraph of the story is

"It was the most horrific crime I've seen in my life," said a university student who witnessed the attack. "What they did to the body while it was lying on the ground was barbaric. This does not represent Islam." The student, who asked not to be named, said he and several other people at the scene were too afraid to interfere. "We waited until the gunmen left the area before we called the police and an ambulance," he added. The Palestinian Authority police, who have since arrested two suspects, confirmed that the attack was carried out by Hamas vigilantes who have been waging a campaign of intimidation against people exhibiting un-Islamic behavior. "

So the Palestinian Authority police have arrested two and later on in the story we find they have the identities of the other 3 and are pursuing them. Later still we get

"Diab al-Lohe, a senior Fatah operative in the Gaza Strip, called on all factions not to provide political backing for murderers and bandits. He also urged the PA security forces to work toward restoring law and order in the Gaza Strip, which, he said, has been hit by an unprecedented wave of crime in recent months."

These particular members of Hamas won't become the police as they are being arrested by the police. This action certainly wasn't condoned by Abu Mazen or by the looks of it anyone else.

I also found this under Hamas at jewishvirtuallibrary.org

"Hamas considers itself an alternative to the Palestinian Authority and has actively tried to undermine Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas explicitly rejected calls from Abbas for a cease-fire and has made clear that it will not accept the road map or any other peace proposal that would recognize the existence of Israel."

The same site under Abu Mazen (aka Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas) says this about him (amongst other things)-

"Abu Mazen is considered one of the leading Palestinian figures devoted to the search for a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He advocated negotiations with Israelis and initiated a dialogue with Jewish and pacifist movements in the 1970s. He led negotiations with Matiyahu Peled that resulted in the announcement of "principles of peace" based on a two-state-solution in January 1977. He also coordinated the negotiation process during the Madrid conference. His long contacts with Israeli leftists won him a reputation as a PLO dove and he headed the Palestinian negotiating team to the secret Oslo talks. It was Abbas who signed the 1993 peace accord with Israel on September 13, 1993, on behalf of PLO. Abbas has been the head of the PLO Negotiating Affairs Department since 1994 and signed the Interim Agreement in September 1995 on behalf of PLO."

If Abu Mazen is trying to ease the tension between him and Hamas or parts of Hamas so that by appealing to Hamas supporters he makes peace in the region more likely, good luck to him. As for what happens to people who commit such crimes as above - well they are arrested by the PA, not made policemen. If Hamas really are stupid enough to sanction and carry on with such crimes they will lose support within the Palestinian community. I think the most heartening thing in the article was the student's reaction, which you missed out -

"It was the most horrific crime I've seen in my life... This does not represent Islam."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/563729.html

It is the opinion of arutz sheva and the jerusalem post that this was an 'honor killing.'

Haaretz calims it was a botched robbery.

I believe Haaretz.

Arutz sheva and the JP have an agenda and this agenda is reflected in their 'reporting.'