JENIN, West Bank, 2 March 2005 — The leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades opened fire yesterday on the empty car of Palestinian Interior Minister Nasr Yussef in the West Bank stronghold of Jenin, witnesses said.
Zakaria Zubeidi, accompanied by gunmen from the militant group loosely affiliated to the mainstream Fatah, scarred Yussef’s parked car with bullets at the Palestinian security services headquarters in Jenin.
Yussef was reviewing security forces at the time and was unhurt, but a Palestinian policeman was wounded by the gunfire and taken to hospital. The minister sacked Jenin security commander Gen. Fayez Arafat on the spot, as Zubeidi and his henchmen left, firing into the air after the shooting.
Wanted by Israel for years, Zubeidi has an immense popular base in Jenin and its refugee camp, a bastion of the Palestinian uprising.
Members of his entourage said he had fired on Yussef’s car to vent his anger over the minister’s visit to the cemetery in Jenin refugee camp without coordinating with him.
