Pictures of Terrorist Prisoners and a Shaheed Distributed on the Temple Mount by Family of Palestinian Prisoner on Eid al-Fitr

Overview

On June 26, 2017, to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the family of a Palestinian terrorist prisoner distributed boxes of candy (or dried fruit) to people who had come to pray at al-Aqsa mosque. Pasted onto the boxes were pictures of Palestinian terrorists serving sentences in Israeli jails for carrying out or planning to carry out terrorist attacks. Also pasted on the boxes was a prayer asking Allah to release the prisoners and return them safe and sound to the families. One box had the picture of a shaheed who carried out a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. He was shot and killed by the Israeli security forces.

Apparently the initiative to distribute the boxes came from a lone family (whose identity is unknown to us). However, it was not an exceptional occurrence, as shaheeds and prisoners are often glorified throughout the Palestinian Authority territories. The glorification is carried out both by the Palestinian establishment (media and the educational system) and through individual or local initiative (families, organizations, local councils, etc.)

The Pictures

Musbah Abu Sabih

On October 9, 20216, Musbah Abu Sabih carried out a combined shooting and vehicular attack on Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis and wounding five. He drove from the French Hill to the light railway station across from Israeli police headquarters. He shot at people waiting for the train and at a woman sitting in her car at the side of the road. When he noticed Israeli security forces he shot at them as well. The Israeli security forces shot and killed him (IDF spokesman and ZAKA, October 9, 2017)

Musbah Abu Sabih came from a prosperous, well-known family (a branch of the Abu Sneina clan) originally from Hebron. Over the years part of the family moved to the neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem. Abu Sabih’s father settled in al-Ram, in the northern part of Jerusalem. He bought a candy store, where Musbah Abu Sabih worked. As a child Musbah Abu Sabih lived in al-Ram, but after he married he moved to the village of ‘Aqab, north of Jerusalem. After he carried out the terrorist attack IDF forces destroyed the house in ‘Aqab.

Heisam al-Batat

Heisam al-Batat lived in the village of Dhahiriya in south Mt. Hebron. He was an operative in Hamas’ military-terrorist wing. He was responsible for dispatching a two-man Hamas squad to carry out a shooting attack near the headquarters of the IDF’s Southern Command in Beer Sheba on February 10, 2002. Two soldiers were killed in the attack and 31 people were wounded. The two terrorist operatives were killed. Al-Batat met with them before they left for the attack, photographed them, received their “wills” and gave them weapons for the attack.

He was detained in June 2002. While he was under detention his squad carried out two shooting attacks in the region of Dhahiriya. In the attack on February 24, 2004, two Israelis were killed when Palestinians shot at their vehicle. Heisam al-Batat was released in February 2004, returned to his terrorist squad and was involved in a number of additional shooting attacks.

The last attack the squad under his command carried out was at the central bus station in Beer Sheba on August 28, 2005. More than 50 people were wounded. An explosive belt was prepared for the attack. Heisam al-Batat, also an explosives expert, took part in its preparation. After the suicide bomber was identified the squad’s operatives were detained. Al-Batat was detained in his village on October 12, 2005. He is serving two terms of life imprisonment for being the squad’s commander. He is the nephew of Hamas operative Iyad al-Batat, who carried out a number of terrorist attacks and was killed by IDF forces in 1999.

Haj Nihad Zghir worked in the waqf department in Jerusalem. He was detained at the beginning of June 2017 at the Allenby Bridge as he was returning from Mecca. In the past he had been removed from the Temple Mount and forbidden entry a number of times.

Imad Khaled al-Rajbi lived in Jerusalem. He belonged to a Hamas terrorist squad whose operatives from Hebron and Jerusalem were detained in December 2015. The squad planned to abduct and kill Israelis and to use their bodies as bargaining chips. He has not yet been sentenced.

Ziyad Abu Hadwan lived in east Jerusalem. He belonged to a Hamas terrorist squad whose operatives from Hebron and Jerusalem were detained in December 2015. The squad planned to abduct and kill Israelis and to use their bodies as bargaining chips. He was convicted of violent activity on the Temple Mount. After his release he returned to his former activities in a terrorist squad.

Female Terrorist Shurouq Dawiat

“Prisoner Shurouq Dawiat. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison” (Facebook page of Hima News, June 25, 2017).

Shurouq Dawiat, about 20 years old, came from the village of Sur Bahr in east Jerusalem. She studied education at Bethlehem University. On October 7, 2015, she carried out a stabbing attack on Hagai Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, seriously wounding an Israeli civilian. The man took his gun and shot her. She was evacuated to a hospital in critical condition. A few days before the attack she wrote on her Facebook page that she wanted to be a martyr.

Wa’el al-Rajbi

Related Articles