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Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank – The Israeli army is arresting relatives of fleeing Palestinian prisoners as they escaped unscrupulously in a heavily guarded prison in Israel.
The Palestinian Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association Addameer said on Wednesday that throughout the occupied West Bank, at least seven fugitives’ families were detained by Israeli soldiers, but some were only briefly detained.
Al Jazeera visited the Jenin refugee camp, where most of the prisoners came from, and the Israeli army believed they were hiding here.
When the taxi approached the home of Zakaria Zubedi, a rebellion camp in the northern West Bank, his brother Yahya looked suspiciously, nervously, and then identified several reporters who wanted to interview his family. Press card.
Zechariah was one of six high-profile Palestinian prisoners who escaped the Israeli authorities after escaping from Israel’s Gilboa prison early on Monday morning.
Zakaria’s uncle, 65-year-old Jamal Zubedi, said the family expects Israeli soldiers to invade the Jenin refugee camp at any time.
Jamal, who has been arrested eight times since 1996, said: “They will come to our house, they may arrest us and interrogate us, and damage the contents of the house.”
Mother was shot
Yahya Zubeidi told Al Jazeera that the home was destroyed twice by the Israeli army and most male family members have been arrested and imprisoned in Israel.
Zakaria’s mother was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while trying to assassinate him. His arm was severely injured and there was shrapnel on his face.
In 2002, after several suicide bombers from there launched deadly suicide attacks targeting Israelis, most of the camp was razed to the ground by the Israeli military.
But it was Zakaria’s escape and his history of fighting the occupation that made this family the main target of Israeli retaliation. His position in the camp has reached a legendary level.
As a former member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade affiliated with Fatah, he and five other people who escaped from the Islamic Jihad continued to hide from hundreds of Israeli security forces who were searching West Bank villages and towns, while soldiers concentrated on Surveillance there. The camera monitors the entrance to Israel.
The Israeli authorities stated that they want these people-they say they are armed-to die or alive, and their escape constitutes a major security threat, because the four are serving life sentences and there is nothing left to do in any future confrontation. lost.
‘Let’s wait and see’
Islamic Jihad activists told Al Jazeera that these people will not surrender without a fight.
Zakaria had previously been imprisoned by Israelis and the Palestinian Authority (PA) for many years.
When Al Jazeera interviewed Zakaria 10 years ago, he was recently released by the Israelis after reaching an agreement to “give up violence.”
However, when asked if he would again take up arms against the occupation, his answer was cautious.
“I will see what will happen to the peace process and whether we get our rights and freedoms,” he told Al Jazeera.
He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority in Bettonia near Ramallah.
In 2019, he was arrested again by Israelis, who claimed that he had been shooting at buses in Israeli settlements.
Harassing relatives
At the same time, the family of another fugitive became a target of Israeli security forces.
At dawn on Tuesday, 35-year-old Ayham Kamamji’s home in Kafr Dan village near Jenin was raided and looted by Israeli soldiers.
The family said that Ayham’s father Fuad Kamamji was arrested in the raid and taken to an Israeli military camp, where he was interrogated about his son’s whereabouts.
The brothers of the other two fugitives, Mohamed and Mahmoud Alda, are from Alaba near Jenin. Their home was also detained after a raid on Wednesday morning.
Frustrated by the inability to trace the six fugitives, the Israeli authorities have prevented Islamic Jihad prisoners from interacting with each other and adopted other punitive measures.
But these measures failed to impress the supporters of the organization.
At a press conference at the Jenin camp on Tuesday night, a group of Islamic jihadist militants warned that any retaliatory action against their fighters would lead to a severe response.
They also warned that the casualties of the escaped would lead to military retaliation.
Even before the recent developments, after the previous two conflicts resulted in the deaths of some Palestinian armed personnel, a military showdown between the Israeli army and the gunmen in the refugee camp was already brewing. The Israeli military warned that if the Palestinian Authority If it cannot subdue the refugee camp, it must do its job.
‘Professional Agent’
Noor Saadi, 27, had previously served two years in an Israeli prison for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. He said it was only a matter of time before the Israeli soldiers returned.
“Occupy with all advanced military equipment is still afraid because it is fighting for possession of what does not belong to it.”
Saadi also stated that the Palestinian Authority will not succeed in tame the camp. “They are professional agents and have almost no support from the people in the camp or other places.”
He said that the recent escape is something that many Palestinian prisoners dream of in Israeli prisons.
“From the beginning of the dream, people will be able to dig a tunnel with a spoon and be free.
“Although most of us did not do this, these people managed to do it in Israeli prisons, where security conditions are usually stricter than in American prisons,” he said.
Not only in the Jenin camp and its surrounding areas, but also in the towns and villages of the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian communities in Israel, the joy of daring escape is widespread.
“This escape is good news,” said Wissam Jilani in the village of Alabuna near Jenin.
“We were frightened by the occupation for a long time, but we are proving that we are not Israel’s doormat and we will not give in,” he told Al Jazeera.
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