Terrorist prisoners have right to escape, re-arrest is an “unprecedented crime”
Headline: “Following the arrest of four of the freedom tunnel prisoners by the occupation forces: The PLO holds the occupation government fully responsible for the prisoners’ lives”
“The PLO held the occupation government fully responsible for the lives and wellbeing of the prisoners, who are undergoing criminal abuse in its prisons of the most despicable kind (sic., see note below regarding PA libel on medical abuse of Palestinian prisoners). In a statement by [PLO] Executive Committee member [and Head of the PLO Department of Human Rights and Civil Society] Ahmed Tamimi yesterday [Sept. 11, 2021], the PLO said that the international laws consider them as prisoners of war (sic., Palestinian terrorist prisoners do not meet the definition of prisoners of war) and that the occupation is illegal, and therefore they have the right to resist it and be liberated from its captivity (refers to Gilboa Prison escape; see note below -Ed.)…
Fatah Deputy Chairman and [Fatah] Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul said that the prisoners who took their freedom by force restored the Palestinian cause to the top of the agenda. He said that the re-arrest of four of them and the tightening of the noose around the prisoners are unprecedented crimes and violations, which join the record of the occupation’s crimes.
In an interview with [official PA] radio [station] The Voice of Palestine, Al-Aloul said that Fatah has a clear strategy to act on the ground to pressure the occupation to release the prisoners. He added: ‘From the beginning we announced that all our people are standing alongside our prisoners, and that they constitute a laurel wreath on the brow of every Palestinian, as they sacrificed their freedom for our sakes.’
He also said that the heroes who liberated themselves from the grip of the prison guard achieved the honor of heroism and initiative, achieved their desire, and harmed the security doctrine of the enemy…
Fatah emphasized that the fact that Chairman of the Prisoners’ Committee in the [Fatah] Revolutionary Council prisoner hero Zakariya Zubeidi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for numerous attacks) and his heroic prisoner comrades Mahmoud Abdallah Ardah, Muhammad Qassem Ardah, and Yaqub Qaderi (i.e., Islamic Jihad terrorists) were rearrested will not weaken the determination of our prisoners or the members of the lauded Palestinian people, which has been experienced in struggle and confrontation with the colonialist Zionist project for more than 100 years…
Fatah emphasized that it and the masses of our people are standing behind the prisoners and their cause, and that our Palestinian people will not sit idly by if any prisoner is harmed – whether from among the four who were rearrested, the two who are still enjoying freedom, or any of our heroic prisoners in the occupation’s prison.”
The article includes a picture of a girl holding a sign with the number “6” on it and barbed wire, indicating the six terrorist prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison.
Text on sign: “Zakariya Zubeidi and his comrades,
You are our pride.
Fatah”