PA emphasizes that Fatah supports and "praises" the 6 Palestinian "heroic" terrorists who escaped Israeli prison
Excerpt of aneditorialby the official PA daily
Headline: “The fabrications of the wretched people at the Al-Akhbar paper”
“The Hamas Movement alone is the one that fabricated the news item on the PA’s willingness to cooperate with the occupation regarding the freedom tunnel heroes (refers to Gilboa Prison escape; see note below -Ed.), and it broadcast this on the screen of [Hamas’] Al-Aqsa TV, and its source was the Israeli Security Agency! And everyone knows that Hamas, of which none of the six heroes [who escaped] were members, was not balanced and was even jealous in its media coverage of the matter, because Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council member Zakariya Zubeidi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for numerous attacks) was one of these heroes, and the matter became famous because of his position and his name that are well known…
The editor [of the Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar] and the writer of the article did not read Fatah’s announcements that praised the operation and warned the occupation authorities not to harm the lives of the six heroes, and [said] that the prisoners’ issue is a red line that must not be harmed under any circumstances from the perspective of Fatah and the PA. They did not read the articles that unanimously agreed that what the six heroes achieved is a miracle, and they did not watch – only out of malicious intent – the video reports of [official] PA TV about the popular demonstrations that included all the Palestinian cities of the West Bank as a sign of support for the heroic prisoners,which were all under Fatah flags and under its leadership.”
2021 Gilboa Prison escape – 6 Palestinian terrorist prisoners escaped from Israel's Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, by widening the hole of the shower drainpipe in the floor of their cell. One terrorist is from Fatah - Zakariya Zubeidi, and the other five are from Islamic Jihad - Ayham Kamamji, Muhammad Ardah, Mahmoud Ardah, Yaqub Qaderi, and Munadil Nafiyat. Four of the terrorists were recaptured after five days: Zubeidi, Ardah, Ardah, and Qaderi. Kamamji and Nafiyat were arrested in Jenin on Sept. 18, 2021 along with two accomplices. Zubeidi was head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks, and he also carried out shooting attacks in 2018-2019. Kamamji participated in the murder of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri on June 25, 2006, and planned to blow up a bus using an exploding car. Muhammad Ardah participated in initiating and executing a suicide bombing on bus no. 823 on Nov. 29, 2001, in which 3 people were murdered and many others were wounded. Mahmoud Ardah was involved in numerous attacks; the website of Islamic Jihad’s military wing defined him as the "commander" of the prison escape. Qaderi committed a shooting attack on Sept. 18, 2002 with an accomplice in which Israeli Yosef Ajami was murdered and a foreign worker was wounded. Nafiyat was being held in administrative detention.
Zakariya Zubeidi - Palestinian terrorist and head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks. Zubeidi was taken off Israel's wanted list in 2007 on condition that he refrain from terror as part of a deal with the PA; he was subsequently given a position in the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs and made a Fatah Revolutionary Council member. Zubeidi was arrested by Israel on Feb. 27, 2019, for breaching the deal by committing several shooting attacks with an accomplice - East Jerusalem lawyer Tareq Barghut who worked in the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs - near Beit El north of Ramallah on Nov. 7, 2018 and Jan. 5, 2019, and north of Jerusalem in late 2018; Zubeidi used a car issued to him by the PA in the attacks. Israel has put Zubeidi on trial for all of his past terror activity. Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, together with 5 Islamic Jihad terrorist prisoners who shared a cell with him, by digging a tunnel out through the floor with a spoon.