JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli police on Friday night arrested two of the six Palestinians released from prison this week for a prison threat that has sparked national outrage.
Soon, Palestinian militants on the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into Israel where Israeli troops were said to have been stripped of air security. No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is agreeing to rebuild it.
Police say the two were arrested in the western city of Nazareth in northern Israel on Friday night. The announcement identified them as Mahmoud Aradeh and Yakub Kadari – members of the Islamic Jihad militia who had both been in prison for life. He showed no resistance. Israeli media reports say a civilian warned police of the two suspects.
A video broadcast shows Israeli police tying a man to his feet at the back of a police car and asking the suspect his name. The man, wearing jeans and a green T-shirt, identified himself as Kadari and replied “yes” when asked if he was one of the fugitives. Kadari was sentenced to two years in prison for attempted murder and planting a bomb.
Six Palestinians were released from Gilboa Prison on Monday, and began a fierce crackdown on Israel and the West Bank.
For the Palestinians, the refugees were “heroes” who managed to free several prisons. Fighting Israel and taking part in the war against the Israeli army or the common people is something to be proud of.
In the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, Palestinians organized social gatherings to celebrate the end of prisons.
The fugitives also included four members of the Islamic Jihad militia who have been in prison for life and Zakaria Zubeidi, a well-known military leader since the second Palestinian invasion in the early 2000s. All the prisoners are from the nearby city of Jenin in the West Bank.
The news of the escape of the fugitives was confirmed on Friday, with shocking reports of frustration and harassment flooding TV stations in Palestine. There was no immediate response from the Palestinian Authority, but Abdeltaif al-Qanou, a spokesman for the ruling Gamas Hamas group, said that despite the arrests, the prisoners had “won and violated Israeli security.”
This escape has exposed serious wrongdoing in the Israeli prison system and has begun in angry days and pointed fingers. It has also fueled tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
Earlier on Friday, Hamas had called for an “offensive day” to protest Israel’s Israeli insurgency against the Palestinian people, but the day passed without a major confrontation. But in Jerusalem, a suspected Palestinian man has died after being shot by Israeli police in the old town, where he allegedly tried to stab police officers.