Despite their legendary escape from Gilboa, why were the six captives unable to disappear for a long time?

Hebron -

In less than two weeks, the Israeli occupation authorities re-arrested the six Palestinian prisoners who managed to extract their freedom by escaping from Gilboa Prison on the sixth of September.

The escape - which did not last long - raises many questions about the reasons for re-arresting these prisoners and not staying longer in the space of freedom, so the answer comes related to the impact of technological tracking, as well as the prisoners' lack of knowledge of reality on the other hand, and the prisoners' lack of the popular incubator on the ground due to the lack of The ability to coordinate from inside the prison, according to what was reported by a leader in the Islamic Jihad movement, in addition to specialists who spoke to Al Jazeera Net.

freedom rush

Khader Adnan, a former prisoner and a leader in the Islamic Jihad movement to which 5 of the escaped prisoners belonged, refers to the "urgency" of the prisoners to escape after they felt their plan had been exposed, "which made the escape plan loose."

Adnan - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - is attributed to the four former detainees who told their lawyers that the liberation process was not on the planned day.

He continues, "Perhaps there was some preparation on the part of the brothers and that there would be someone to help them outside, but this preparation did not take place as the six prisoners wanted."

He believes that the step came faster than the time that was scheduled due to inspections inside the prison, which made the prisoners feel that things were close to being exposed.

The Palestinian leader refers to the role of "the tools of anticipation, monitoring, espionage, the human element, agents and other intelligence tools", as well as the "large size of the human element, the occupation army, and all military arms in the pursuit of the six brothers."

He says that the occupation intelligence's tracking of the two prisoners, Ayham Kammji and Nafe'at's fighter in Jenin, continued until the zero point and during the movement from one area to another.

He added that "some prisoners spent a long time in prison, and did not know the extent of the development of technology, and the streets and roads that they knew were different, and most of them were arrested before the separation wall was built."

Khader Adnan says that "the absence of geographical depth in the West Bank, and the intense persecution in the interior hastened the arrest of the prisoners."

Finally, the Islamic Jihad leader draws attention to "the effect of the security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the change and retirement of many of the security elements that served as an incubator for the resistance."

The prisoner’s lawyer, Zakaria Al-Zubaidi, conveys a message on his tongue, “I crawled for half an hour or more inside the tunnel until I got out of the prison, and no one was waiting for us outside, and we had difficulty lifting the cover of the tunnel opening” # Gilboa pic.twitter.com/WNlmUOdpGa

— Issam (@Issamrimawi) September 19, 2021

Tracking and cameras

Osama Shaheen, a recently released prisoner and researcher in prisoners' cases, says that technology is the biggest factor that has helped in the rapid arrest of prisoners, specifically the spread of cameras, and some prisoners' phone conversations with their families.

He adds, "Technology today has become beyond imagination, and this reality is not realized by prisoners who have lived for many years in Israeli prisons."

Shaheen says that the Israeli intelligence has become dependent on advanced means in monitoring movement and tracking, citing a prisoner who lived inside the prison - he preferred not to mention his name - and he found in front of him in the investigation a full video recording of a resistance act that he carried out from leaving his home until returning to it.

Shaheen does not rule out that some prisoners have taken their precautions before escaping, but he points out a huge difference between knowing the prisoners and the reality on the ground outside the prison.

Insisting on portraying the re-arrest of the prisoners as a victory for us, will drown us in illusions and will give the negligent organizations and factions, and even from us, forgiveness instruments as long as our movements are based on slogans.

The established fact is that the prisoners won and we were defeated..Therefore, the stagnant water must be moved under everyone who calls himself a representative of Palestine.

— Bashar Hamdan Bashar Hamdan (@Bashar_Hamdan) September 19, 2021

He further explains, "The prisoner who was arrested 20 years ago knows hardly anything about the huge changes in reality. There is a very large spread of cameras in the sky, and at crossroads and streets, and they can track every small and big thing."

Although "human information" helped identify some of the prisoners and determine their whereabouts, especially with the publication of their photos, the process of arresting the two prisoners, Muhammad al-Ardah and Zakaria al-Zubaidi in a truck garage, was like a coincidence when a soldier put his hand under a truck and it grabbed the hand of one of them, according to Shaheen.

Shaheen pointed to another "important" factor, which is the lack of communication. Despite the success of the six prisoners in liberating themselves, they did not have contact with the outside that would secure their complete safe escape.

On the role of the Palestinian organizations in protecting the fleeing prisoners, he said that "the organizations in the West Bank are in a very fragile state, and they are being fought by the Palestinian Authority."

Abd al-Rahman Abu Jaafar, who was arrested tonight to present his house to them and a fighter.. Abd al-Rahman was a 12-year-old child, on March 10, 2004, his older brother Ihab was assassinated by the occupation.

After a long chase.

Abdul Rahman was one of the most knowledgeable people about what it means to harbor a stalker that all the enemy’s advanced technology is looking for pic.twitter.com/0JTJ7KDupp

— Amer Abu Arafa (@amer_press) September 19, 2021

Absence of the popular incubator

In the same context, retired Palestinian Major General Yousef Al-Sharqawi touched on "the absence of a popular incubator for the resistance and the resistance, whether in the West Bank or the 48 areas."

He adds: "The security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel has hit the incubator of the resistance."

Al-Sharqawi does not see any error on the part of the six prisoners, but he does not rule out a flaw in the assessment of the situation, "It was assumed that there was a car that would transport them as soon as they exit the tunnel to safe areas, and this did not happen, because prison conditions do not allow this."

However, Al-Sharqawi says that what has been achieved "does not diminish their work" and believes that it is necessary to "preserve the experience of victory and never break the prisoners."