The Economist pulls a puff piece on Zakaria Zubeidi (the “West Bank pimpernel”), the most prominent Al-Aqsa Brigades commanders to come in from the cold. All we know from this brief profile is that he threw some stones at soldiers and that his friends from a drama club were killed in street clashes.
We can’t judge whether his agreement to cease terror attacks against Israel is sincere, but there’s no reason to whitewash his bloody background. As YNet News once wrote:
Zubeidi’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have claimed responsibility for more than 300 terror acts in the last five years.
