“The hunter and the dragon” – Fatah praises terrorist leader for "implementing" his thesis and escaping from Israeli prison
Image and text posted on the official Fatah Facebook page
Posted text: “Student Zakariya Muhammad Abd Al-Rahman Zubeidi (i.e., terrorist, responsible for numerous attacks)
The dragon who defeated the hunter – This is the thesis that he wrote for a master’s degree at Birzeit University. Today [Sept. 6, 2021] he implemented it literally and practically (refers to how he escaped from prison with 5 other terrorists -Ed.).”
The image shows the cover page of terrorist Zakariya Zubeidi’s thesis.
Text: “Birzeit University
M.A. program in modern Arabic studies
Thesis proposal
(The following title appears in Arabic and English -Ed.)
The Hunter and the Dragon:
The Chase in the Palestinian Case 1968-2018
Submitting student: Zakariya Muhammad Abd Al-Rahman Zubeidi
1175061
Semester A 2018”
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.