Israeli security officials fear that the Israeli journalist Yusuf Samir, who was arrested last week in Bethlehem, may be dead, according to Haaretz.
According to the paper, Palestinian police claim that Samir was released Wednesday night, while other Palestinian sources suggest that he is still being held for questioning by Palestinian Authority security officials.
Samir, 63, an Egyptian native who received political asylum in Israel in 1968, suffers from heart disease and may have succumbed to a heart attack while under interrogation, Israeli army sources suggested Monday. Another possibility Israeli intelligence source put forward is that he was released to local activists, perhaps Tanzim operatives, who executed him.
Talking to Radio Israel, Samir’s wife said she was more worried about his health condition.
The army sources told Haaretz that if Samir were released alive and well, he would have either arrived home or been transferred to the district coordination office. "This time," they said, "in every communication channel through which we've tried to reach the Palestinians, we've run into a brick wall."
After fleeing from the Nasser regime in Egypt, Samir began working for Israel Radio, editing and presenting Arabic-language programs. He did not use his real name in his journalistic work until Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977. Since the early 1990s, Samir has lived on the border of the Gilo neighborhood and Beit Jala. His house formerly belonged to a Christian family from Beit Jala, but was included in the municipal borders of Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967.
According to Palestinian sources, Samir was arrested as he was photographing houses near Rachel's Tomb that had been bombarded by Israeli tanks after a Palestinian sniper killed Sergeant Danny Darai. Samir was apparently held by the presidential guard Force 17 at first, and later transferred to the general intelligence branch led by Tawfiq Tirawi, said Haaretz.
Upon his arrest, continued the paper, Samir was allowed to call his wife in order to request the medicine he takes for heart disease. She was also instructed to bring his pistol; the Palestinians charged that he had used the pistol to fire against Beit Jala. When she arrived in Bethlehem on Thursday, however, the Palestinians told her that Samir had already been released the previous night. But the family still heard no word from Samir, and there was no sign of his car, which he had parked in Bethlehem.
However, The Jerusalem Post did not refer in its report to the possibility of Samir’s death.
A longtime friend of the Palestinians, Samir had no fear of entering PA-ruled lands, the paper said, quoting his wife, Lili.
While in Bethlehem, Samir was stopped by a Palestinian policeman who told him that he had no business being there since he was an Israeli citizen. "Who are you to expel me?" Samir exclaimed, adding: "I have done more than you for this country."
Affronted, Samir went home to bring some books he had written about the Palestinians to prove to the Palestinian policeman “his loyalty,” said the wife, adding that "he was very opinionated, and like a free journalist would always say what he felt."
When Samir returned to Bethlehem, he was ordered to report to Palestinian Police headquarters – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
