Zakaria Zubeidi Zakaria Muhammad ' Abdelrahman Zubeidi ( ; other spellings include Zakariyah Zbeidi , Zacharia and Zubaidi ) ( born 1976 ) is a former Palestinian militant leader , who recently ended his years on Israel ' s most - wanted list by handing over his guns to the Palestinian National Authority and accepting Israeli amnesty . On 28 December 2011 , however , Israel rescinded Zubeidi ' s pardon . He had been the Jenin chief of the Al - Aqsa Martyrs ' Brigades , and alleged to be a chief strategist of suicide bombers by the Israeli government . However , in mid - 2007 , he renounced militancy and committed himself to cultural resistance through theater . He is considered a " symbol of the Intifada " . Zubeidi is currently married with two children — a son , Muhammad , and a daughter . Early life . Zubeidi ' s father , Muhammad , had been an English teacher , but was prevented from teaching by the Israelis after he was convicted of Fatah membership in the late 1960s . He worked instead as a labourer in an Israeli iron foundry , did some private teaching on the side , and became a peace activist . The first Israeli Zubeidi had ever met was the soldier who came to take away his father for alleged membership of Fatah . His father died of cancer , leaving Zubeidi ' s mother Samira to raise their eight children alone . In the late 1980s and early 1990s , during the First Intifada , Israeli human rights activist Arna Mer - Khamis opened a children ' s theater in Jenin , " Arna ' s House " , to encourage understanding between Israelis and Palestinians . Dozens of Israeli volunteers ran the events , and Samira , believing that peace was possible , offered the top floor of the family house for rehearsals . Zubeidi , then aged 12 , his older brother Daoud , and four other boys around the same age formed the core of the troupe . Zubeidi attended the UNRWA school in Jenin Refugee Camp , and by all accounts was a good student . In 1989 , at age 13 , he was shot in the leg as he threw stones at Israeli soldiers . He was hospitalised for six months and underwent four operations , but was left permanently affected , with one leg shorter than the other and a noticeable limp . At age 15 , he was arrested for the first time ( again for throwing stones ) and jailed for six months . At that time he had become the representative of the other child prisoners to the governor . He dropped out of high school in his first year after being released . Soon after , he was arrested again for throwing Molotov cocktail s and imprisoned for 4 and a half years . In prison , he learned Hebrew , and became politically active , joining Fatah . On release after the 1993 Oslo Accords , he joined the Palestinian Authority ' s Palestinian Security Forces He became a sergeant , but left , disillusioned , after a year , complaining : " " There were colleagues whom I had taught to read who were promoted to senior positions because of nepotism and corruption . " " He went to work illegally in Israel , and for two years earned a good living as a contractor for home renovations in Tel Aviv and Haifa . He was eventually arrested in Afula and after being briefly imprisoned for working without a permit , deported back to Jenin . With his path to work in Israel blocked , Zubeidi turned to auto theft . In 1997 , he was caught with a stolen car , and was given a fifteen - month sentence . He served the time , was released and returned to the camp . He became a truck driver in Jenin , transporting flour and olive oil , but in September 2000 lost his job when the West Bank was sealed off due to the Second Intifada . Leader of the Al - Aqsa Brigades . Battle of Jenin . 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 . 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 to do theatre there . 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 . 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 . Power - broker of Jenin . 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 . 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 ! ' " , 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 " . 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 . Prior to these incidents , another attempt was undertaken by a Palestinian ; Zubeidi had his hands broken as a punishment . 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 . 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 . " Elections and renewed conflict with Israel . 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 . " 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 refugee s . According to him Arafat was the only figure who could fulfill those aspirations , claiming this was " why he was poisoned . . . why Israel killed him . " 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 . 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 . On July 6 , 2006 , the IDF attempted to capture Zubeidi at a funeral , but he escaped after an exchange of gunfire . Amnesty . On July 15 , 2007 , the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister announced that Israel would include Zubeidi in an amnesty offered to militants of Fatah ' s al - Aqsa - Brigades . As of 2008 , he was hired by Juliano Mer - Khamis ( now deceased ) as director of the Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp , where children can study theatre and experience the growing art and music culture surrounding the Palestine International Film festivals . In an interview on April 4 , 2008 , he stated that he still did not receive a full pardon by Israel , blaming the PA for " lying " to him . He continued to sleep at the PA ' s Jenin headquarters and received a salary of 1 , 050 NIS instead of previous 2000 NIS . Asked why he stopped fighting even when he did not receive a full pardon , Zubeidi answered " because of the conflict between Fatah and Hamas . Look , it ' s perfectly clear to me that we won ' t be able to defeat Israel . My aim was for us , by means of the resistance , to get a message out to the world . Back in Abu ' Ammar ' s day , we had a plan , there was a strategy , and we would carry his orders . . . now there ' s no one capable of using our actions to bring about . . . achievements . " Zubeidi criticized the PA leadership , saying " they are whores . Our leadership is garbage . " Faced with the question of whether or not he admitted defeat he claimed " Even [ late Egyptian president ] Gamal Abdel Nasser admitted his defeat , so why not me ? " Prior to Fatah ' s Sixth Conference in August 2009 , Zubeidi called for fellow Fatah to adopt a program of resistance in case peace negotiations with Israel fail and lead to a Third Intifada . Although he was accredited as a Fatah delegate , one of 2 , 000 , to the conference in Bethlehem , Zubeidi was momentarily refused entry to the meeting hall , resulting in condemnations by al - Aqsa Brigade members in Nablus and Jenin , as well as those outside of the Palestinian territories , who described the move as " stabbing the resistance in the back . " Fatah officials allowed him to attend on August 5 , 2009 . The PA was also asked by brigade members to ensure Zubeidi ' s safety from Bethlehem back to Jenin . A number of right - wing Israeli Knesset members submitted a petition to the Israeli military court on August 6 calling for the arrest of Zubeidi because his " hands have Israeli blood [ on them ] , " despite being granted amnesty . Giving a speech at the conference the same day , Zubeidi suggested the Fatah - ruled West Bank reunite with the Hamas - ruled Gaza Strip through force , if necessary . He criticized the " old leadership , " condemning them for failing the Palestinian people , saying " During 18 years of negotiations [ under Fatah ] , no hope has been created . " Zubeidi suggested a younger generation of Palestinians should lead Fatah . Cancelling of amnesty . On December 29 , 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 . A week before Zubeidi was notified about the cancellation of his amnesty , his brother had been arrested by the PA . Zubeidi was imprisoned without charge by the Palestinian Authority from May to October 2012 .