JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli police on Saturday say four Palestinian prisoners have been released from a maximum security prison this week – including a notorious dictator whose actions have made him known in Israel over the years.
The arrests prompted Israel to close the scandal that exposed serious wrongdoing in their prisons and turned refugee prisoners into Palestinian heroes. Late Friday, Palestinian militants on the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel in protest, calling for Israeli aircraft to retaliate.
The four wanted men have been arrested after two arrests in northern Israel.
Earlier on Saturday, police said they had arrested two men, including Zakaria Zubeidi, in the Arab town of Umm al-Ghanam. Zubeidi was a military leader during the second occupation of Palestine in the early 2000s.
Although they were linked to the Israeli occupation, they are also known for their frequent interviews with journalists and their conversations with Israeli women. Zubeidi for many years received a pardon and received a college education and was active in the West Bank theater industry before being re-arrested in 2019 on suspicion of engaging in criminal activities.
Photographs released by the police showed Zubeidi, handcuffed and wearing a white face mask, led by two police officers.
In a statement, Israeli security forces, including the military, have been working “day and night” to arrest the refugees.
“All the troops were deployed with all their might, searched in the open, collected all the information until they were able to clear the records to find the two refugees,” said Zubeidi, police said. The search for the last two prisoners continued.
Earlier, two other prisoners were detained in Nazareth, an Arab city in northern Israel west of Umm al-Ghanam.
A video broadcast shows Israeli police arresting a prisoner, Yakub Kadari, in the back seat of a car and asking for his name. The man, wearing jeans and a green T-shirt, identifies himself as Kadari and answers “yes” when asked if he is one of the fugitives. Kadari was sentenced to two years in prison for attempted murder and planting a bomb.
According to Israeli media reports, residents of both towns have converted the prisoners.
Six Palestinians were released from Gilboa Prison on Monday, and began a fierce crackdown on Israel and the West Bank.
For Palestinians, refugees have been praised for freeing themselves from a number of lifelong sentences. Fighting Israel and participating in war against Israeli troops or civilians is a source of pride for many, and Palestinians see the prisoners held by Israel as heroes in their nation.
In the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, Palestinians organized social gatherings to celebrate the end of prisons.
While Zubeidi was a member of the Fatah faction, the others were part of the Islamic Jihad militia, including four prisoners. All prisoners are from the nearby West Bank city of Jenin in Israel.
The news of the escape of the fugitives was confirmed on Friday, with shocking reports of frustration and fear flooding Palestinian media.
Israelis said on Saturday that Palestinian forces in Gaza fired a rocket into Israel, which was seized by Israeli security forces. Israeli forces have responded with several anti-Hamas strikes in Gaza. Israel claims to have Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since 2007, which controls all rocket launchers from the region.
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. The men fled through a hole in the bottom of a shared room, dug through a hole outside the prison and, according to media reports, escaped through a prison guard.
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. In Jerusalem, a suspected Palestinian man has died after being shot dead by Israeli police in the Old City, where he allegedly tried to stab police officers. Police say one police officer sustained minor injuries.