Who is Zakaria Zubeidi? From militant leader to prison escapee, and why he says both war and peace have failed in the Middle East

Who is Zakaria Zubeidi?

When Zakaria Zubeidi walked free from an Israeli prison in January, crowds in Ramallah erupted in celebration. The 49-year-old, long a symbol of Palestinian defiance, had been freed in a prisoner exchange during a brief truce in Gaza. Supporters hoisted him on their shoulders and chanted his name. For many, he embodied resilience — a onetime militia leader, cultural organizer, and escapee from one of Israel’s most secure prisons. But months later, Zubeidi says the joy has given way to disillusionment, the New York Times reported.

Zubeidi rose to prominence in the early 2000s as the leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin, affiliated with the Fatah movement. The second intifada, triggered by Ariel Sharon’s controversial visit to a Jerusalem mosque compound, saw him defending Palestinian neighbourhoods in fierce battles with Israeli forces. To Israelis, he was a dangerous militant linked to deadly attacks; to many Palestinians, a defender of their land. The fighting devastated his hometown, and his own home remains in a sealed-off military zone.

In 2007, after years of fighting, Zubeidi accepted an Israeli amnesty for militants willing to lay down their arms. Declaring the intifada a failure, he turned his energy toward the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, which he co-founded with international partners. The theatre offered drama classes and performances for young Palestinians, staging works like “Waiting for Godot” and “Animal Farm.” While his rifle had once been his tool, he now sought to add cultural expression to the resistance. Still, he saw the two approaches as connected: “How did I open the theatre door? I broke it with my rifle,” he said.

Israel rearrested Zubeidi in 2019, accusing him of violating his amnesty terms. While awaiting trial in 2021, he and five other inmates tunnelled out of their cell, crawling 32 yards to freedom. For Palestinians, the jailbreak was an audacious act that inspired murals and songs. For Zubeidi, it was both a triumph and a tragedy. The escape was short-lived — he was recaptured within days — and it led to harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners, including solitary confinement for himself. “The prisoner who does not think about escaping prison does not deserve freedom,” he said, even as he acknowledged the limited gains.

Zubeidi’s recent imprisonment coincided with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Emerging after 16 months, he found Gaza in ruins, Jenin heavily damaged, and his son — also a militant — killed in an Israeli strike. His own body bore the marks of incarceration; he says his jaw and teeth were shattered by beatings, leaving him toothless. The Israeli Prison Service denies such abuse. His experience, he argues, mirrors the broader Palestinian predicament: neither violence nor diplomacy has moved them closer to sovereignty.

For Zubeidi, the failures are clear. Armed struggle failed to dislodge Israel, and the Palestinian Authority’s cooperation with Israel has not delivered a state. Israelis, he says, are too powerful to be defeated militarily and too unwilling to reward peaceful partnership. “There is no peaceful solution and there is no military solution,” he said. “Why? Because the Israelis don’t want to give us anything.”

Despite his bleak assessment, Zubeidi is not ready to abandon the search for a way forward. He has enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Birzeit University, focusing on Israel studies. After decades as a fighter, cultural organizer, and prisoner, he now hopes that understanding his adversary in greater depth may offer new insights into breaking the deadlock. “It’s impossible to uproot us from here,” he said. “And we don’t have any tools to uproot them.”