Zakaria Zubeidi

Zubeidi himself traces his entry into armed militancy back to late 2001 when, after the killing of a close friend, he learned to become a bombmaker. Then, on 3 March 2002, one month before the main assault on the refugee camp, his mother was killed during an Israeli raid into Jenin. She had taken refuge in a neighbor's home and was shot by an IDF sniper who targeted her as she stood near a window. She subsequently bled to death. Zubeidi's brother Taha was also killed by soldiers shortly afterward. A month later, a suicide bomber from Jenin killed 29 Israelis. The Israeli Army then launched a full-scale offensive in the Jenin refugee camp, demolishing hundreds of homes, leaving 2,000 homeless. Ten days of fighting ensued after which 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were dead.[1]

On top of his grief for his family and friends, Zubeidi was greatly embittered by the fact that none of the Israelis who had accepted his mother's hospitality, and whom he had thought were his friends, tried to contact him. In a 2006 interview he stated angrily, "You took our house and our mother and you killed our brother. We gave you everything and what did we get in return? A bullet in my mother’s chest. We opened our home and you demolished it. Every week, 20-30 Israelis would come there to do theatre. We fed them. And afterward, not one of them picked up the phone. That is when we saw the real face of the left in Israel." The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades may reach peace with Israel, he says, but he won’t personally. He won’t forgive the killing of his mother and brother and the razing of his house.[1]

Losing hope in the Israeli peace camp, he joined the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed wing of Fatah. Arna's son, Israeli actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, did return to Jenin in 2002 and looked for the boys who had been in the theater group. Zubeidi had turned to armed resistance, Daoud was sentenced to 16 years in prison for militant activities, and the other four were dead. In 2004, Mer-Khamis completed a documentary film about the group, Arna's Children. Zubeidi's face was slightly disfigured by fragments of shrapnel from a bomb that he mishandled in 2003.[1]

He took responsibility for a bombing in Tel Aviv that killed one woman and injured more than 30 in June 2004. During this period, he was considered the primary power-broker and most powerful man in Jenin.[4] Zubeidi was de facto in charge of law and order in the city. He viewed the PA security forces as having little presence other than "disturbing traffic." Although he developed a friendly relationship with the former Palestinian president and Fatah head, Yasser Arafat, recalling him saying "'Zakaria, buddy, I love you, we're marching to Jerusalem!'",[5] Zubeidi also stated "I don't take orders from anyone. I'm not good at following." At the time, he was enthusiastic about the intifada, dismissing the view of Palestinians who wanted to end it and warned the new generation of Palestinians would "fight better".[4]

Explosive Vehicle in Jenin, 2006

Four attempts by Israel have been made to assassinate him. In one such attempt, in 2004, an Israeli police unit killed five other brigade members, including a 14-year-old boy, in a jeep carrying Zubeidi. On November 15, following Arafat's death, Israeli forces launched an incursion in Jenin to kill him, but he evaded them; in the raid, nine Palestinians were killed, including four civilians and his deputy, "Alaa". An arms cache was also found.[6] Prior to these incidents, another attempt was undertaken by a Palestinian; Zubeidi had his hands broken as a punishment.[4]

Zubeidi was at the center of controversy in 2004 when Tali Fahima, an Israeli legal secretary, was imprisoned because of her contacts with him. She was accused of preventing his arrest by the IDF by translating a document for him. Both of them deny allegations that they had a romantic relationship.[1] He stated that year, "The intifada is in its death throes. These are the final stages.... Not only was the intifada a failure, but we are a total failure. We achieved nothing in 50 years of struggle; we've achieved only our survival."[7]

During the Palestinian presidential elections in 2004, Zubeidi initially endorsed Marwan Bargouti, but due to Barghouti's imprisonment, he soon decided to give his support for Mahmoud Abbas who won the election. The two were in contact with each other and Zubeidi, despite being considered a loose cannon and dangerously outspoken, appreciated Abbas' "subdued no-nonsense style."[5] In December 2004, Israeli sources criticized Abbas for meeting Zubeidi. Despite his willingness to agree with Abbas' election to the presidency, Zubeidi still said he did not trust Abbas with the Palestinians' national constants which to him were the status of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. According to him Arafat was the only figure who could fulfill those aspirations, claiming this was "why he was poisoned... why Israel killed him."[6]

In September 2005 he declared that his group's cease-fire was at an end after Samer Saadi and two other militants were killed by Israeli forces in Jenin.[8] Nevertheless, around this time Zubeidi told a Swedish nurse named Jonatan Stanczak that he wanted to re-establish his links with the Jewish peace movement. The way he spoke of Arna's project led Stanczak to contact Mer-Khamis and within six months they re-established the Freedom Theater in Jenin, which opened in February 2006.[9] On July 6, 2006, the IDF attempted to capture Zubeidi at a funeral, but he escaped after an exchange of gunfire.[10]

On 29 December 2011, Israel rescinded Zubeidi's pardon for unstated reasons. Zubeidi stated to Ma'an News Agency that he had not violated any of the conditions of his amnesty. He was advised by PA security officials to turn himself in to Palestinian custody lest he be arrested by Israel's security forces.[17] A week before Zubeidi was notified about the cancellation of his amnesty, his brother had been arrested by the PA.[18]

Zubeidi was imprisoned without charge by the Palestinian Authority from May to October 2012.

On 27 February 2019 Zubeidi was arrested again, on suspicion of terrorist activities, and in May he was charged with carrying out at least two shooting attacks on civilian buses in the West Bank.[19]