[Ma'an] Nativity Church deportee Abdullah Dawood, 48, former director of Bethlehem intelligence service, died on Wednesday in Algeria, his family confirmed. Brigadier Dawood was admitted to the military hospital in Algiers on Saturday to undergo emergency surgery for a heart bleed and a burst coronary artery. His wife, Kifah Harb, arrived in the Algerian capital three days earlier, where her husband remained in the intensive care unit.
Dawood, from the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, was deported by Israeli forces from the Nativity Church in 2002, following an Israeli siege on the church.
The brigadier was first deported in 1992 after Israeli forces surrounded the An-Najjah University in Nablus. He returned to Palestine with the PLO following the Oslo Agreement in 1993.
Between 2 April and 10 May 2002, Israeli forces surrounded the Nativity Church in Bethlehem during Operation Defensive Shield at the height of the Second Intifada. The operation had sought to capture Palestinian militants, who sought refuge in the church. An agreement was reached, after long negotiations, to deport the besieged Palestinians to Europe and Gaza.
Israeli authorities regularly deport Palestinians released from Israeli custody to Gaza, despite detainees having resided with family in the West Bank.
Deportees: We don't want to return in coffins
The Nativity Church deportees in Europe and Gaza expressed their condolences for the passing of Dawood. Jihad Ja'ara, the deportees' spokesman, told Ma'an over the phone from Ireland "we express our deepest sorrow at the passing of our brother and our traveling companion, martyr Abdullah Dawood.
"He is a precious brother and a senior commander. Words can't express how much we love and respect him," Ja'ara said.
The deportees sent a message to the Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership on Wednesday, saying, "We want to return to our homeland on foot, not in coffins."
The exiled Palestinians added that Dawood was the first among the deportees to pass away before returning to Palestine. "We want the leadership to know that deportee Muhammad Said is in danger, having recently undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in the prostate gland." Deportees said that Said was considered to be in stable health following the procedure.
Dawood's last words: "I wish to visit my mother's grave"
Dawood's mother died in Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank while he was in exile, and was quoted in his last interview aired on Palestine TV as saying, "I wish I could visit my mother's grave."
Fahmi Kanan, Nativity Church deportees' spokesman, appealed to President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to undertake all efforts to ensure that Dawood's corpse is returned to the West Bank to be burried near his mother's grave in Balata refugee camp.
Speaking with Ma'an, Kanan said "We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for Dawood's death because they deported him. His mother and sister died while he was in exile. They also prevented his family members from visiting him in exile after they accused him of masterminding an operation against Israelis."
The spokesman explained that psychological pressure the deportees and their relatives suffer makes them prone to illness.
Palestinian Prisoners Society offers their condolences
President of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Qadura Fares, expressed his condolences for the death of Dawood.
Fares mentioned that Dawood was one of the first to rebel in the First Intifada and he was detained several times for more than seven years. He added that in 1988 he was deported to Lebanon and stayed there until 1996, returning to join the Palestinian security forces.
Fares added that when the Second Intifada broke, Dawood was the first to "return to struggle."
Fatah in Nablus
The Fatah movement in Nablus announced the death of Dawood in a statement explaining that he was a prominent leader of the first Palestinian Intifada, and was pursued by Israeli forces.
During the Second Intifada, the statement added, Dawood was deported after the Nativity Church siege in 2002, when was the director of the Palestinian General Intelligence in Bethlehem.
Leader of security services mourns
General Farraj, the director-general of the Palestinian General Intelligence, expressed his condolences for the death of Brigadier Dawood.