'Normal life' escapes Palestinian militant
Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008 3:02 PM
By Lawahez Jabari, NBC News Producer
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Ahmed Balboul hoped that renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians might save his life. But as a senior figure in Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a violent militia affiliated with Fatah, Balboul had a number on his head – he had been wanted by the Israelis since 2000 because they believe he was responsible for the deaths of Israeli citizens.
In one of his last interviews with NBC News, Balboul disavowed violence and expressed his support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "I want to live a normal life. I am not hiding anymore. We will give a chance for peace," he said to NBC News this past December.
Despite his support for the peace process and his hopes for an amnesty agreement with the Israelis, Balboul’s number came up. On March 12, he and three other Palestinian militants were shot and killed while riding in a car in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
According to Palestinian security officials, the others killed include the commander of Islamic Jihad in the Bethlehem area, Mohammed Shehadeh, and two others who were also members of Islamic Jihad.
According to the Israeli Army, the border police force identified a number of armed Palestinians inside a car and opened fire. Many human rights groups have called the killings "extra-judicial" because there were no arrests or trial. The Israeli Army said that three rifles were found in the car, and that all four had been involved in attacks against Israeli civilians.
The Israeli raid on the Palestinian militants came at an embarrassing time for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah, who has been trying to tighten his grip on the security situation in the West Bank by getting a number of Palestinian militants off of Israel’s wanted list and enrolled in the local security forces.
According to Palestinian security officials, 418 gunmen from Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have received amnesty from Israel and an additional 230 are going through the amnesty process in the West Bank. Palestinians say that the four militants who were killed had been hoping to be included in that amnesty agreement with Israel, but Israel had refused their requests.
Israel strongly defended the killings as a legitimate response to terrorist acts. "Yesterday, in Bethlehem, we again proved that the state of Israel will continue to hunt and to strike any murderer who has Jewish blood on his hands," said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "It is unimportant how much time has elapsed. Israel’s long arm will reach him."
Israel’s defense was little comfort to the thousands of Palestinians who gathered to attend prayers and funerals for the four militants last week.
Sana, Balboul’s wife, said that he had expressed hope about the future and the potential for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, even saying to her recently, "One day we will go to Jericho," referring to the West Bank city currently occupied by the Israelis.
Instead, he is yet another casualty in the ongoing conflict, leaving behind Sana, three children, but still no peace.
