By: Aryeh Savir
Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and chief negotiator with Israel, called on Israeli authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release imprisoned terrorist and cancer patient Kamal Abu Wa’ar, who tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) stated Sunday that Abu Wa’ar was sent on Wednesday to the Ha’emek Hospital in Afula for testing. After being examined in the hospital due to his cancer, he also underwent a Corona test which returned negative.
The next day, on Thursday, he was returned to the Gilboa prison, and after a few hours, he was transferred to the IPS Medical Center before being admitted to the Asaf HaRofeh Hospital for surgery.
On Friday, July 10, the prisoner was referred to Assaf HaRofe Hospital for surgery, where he was again tested for COVID-19, as per pre-operation procedures. This time he tested positive for the virus.
An epidemiological investigation is underway. Detainees and staff who came in contact with him underwent testing and were sent into quarantine in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s guidelines.
Abu Wa’ar participated in several terrorist attacks on Israelis in the early 2000s and is responsible for the death of nine civilians and soldiers.
He was a member of a seven-member Fatah squad that carried out shooting attacks over the course of three years. He was arrested in 2003 and admitted to his involvement in carrying out serious attacks and in designing bomb attacks against Israeli targets. He admitted that he received NIS 80,000 in advance from arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti for the attacks.
Abu-Wa’ar also admitted that he took part in the mass shooting at Yosef’s Tomb in Shechem Nablus in October 2000 during which Border Police officer Madhath Yousef was killed. He used the Kalashnikov rifle he was given during his service in Arafat’s presidential security.
Abu-Wa’ar also admitted that he was among the participants of the shooting attack on a group of Israeli hikers in Mount Ebal in October 2000. Rabbi Benjamin Herling, a Holocaust survivor, was murdered and four other Israeli civilians were injured.
In May 2001, Abu-Wa’ar committed the murder of Arganino Orlando. Abu-Waar was also involved in a shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle in Samaria, in which two Israeli civilians were wounded.
He was also involved in the murder of Aliza Malka in August 2001 when Fatah members fired at a passing vehicle. Three passengers were injured in the shooting incident.
Last year, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and started receiving radiotherapy in Israeli medical facilities.
Erekat stated Sunday that the Palestinian leadership has been reaching out to “all relevant international bodies” to exert pressure on Israel to release “sick prisoners, the elderly and women,” in light of a supposed danger of an outbreak of Coronavirus in Israeli prisons.
It is of significance to note that it has so far nor been proven that Abu Wa’ar contracted the virus in prison, and the IPS has employed extreme measures to ensure that prisons remain clean of COVID-19 and regularly update on related occurrences.
However, Erakat said that “Israel’s disregard to Palestinian and international demands, its lack of compliance with international humanitarian law…means that the international community shall not stand by, but to intervene immediately to hold Israel accountable for its violations.”
(TPS)