A Crafty Con Gives Israel the Slip, Again

As Israel and the rest of the world focused Monday on the 150 Palestinians and clerics trying to get out of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, a very different escape story was competing for headlines, generating bemusement, concern and even a modicum of respect among Israelis for the skills of a Palestinian.

Early Sunday, while thief extraordinaire and accused terrorist Mahmoud abu Jamous was being transported inside a special locked cage in a fortified police bus, pinned down with handcuffs and leg restraints, accompanied by two other security vehicles and overseen by 10 elite Israeli prison guards, he managed to escape.

What’s worse, no one in the convoy realized that he had slipped away until a motorist called police to report that he’d seen sneakers popping out of the bus’ barred window as the vehicle waited for a stoplight in a northern Israeli town. The motorist said he saw a man drop to the street and disappear in a flash.

It was 20 minutes before police figured out what had happened and were able to mobilize a search using helicopters, dogs and hundreds of officers. By that time, Abu Jamous was long gone.

“What else do we need to make sure prisoner Jamous leaves point A and reaches point B?” asked a columnist in the daily newspaper Maariv. “Fighter jets?”

In a nation weary after months of terror and bloodshed, the absurdity of the Abu Jamous escape was embraced by some for the rare moment of levity it provided.

“We’ve gone through so much. If you can, you have to laugh a bit,” said Tamar Meshulan, a 31-year-old industrial designer. “He’s probably a genius. He certainly knows his business.”

But others wondered how a state with such a sophisticated military, which prides itself on its vigilant police and security forces, could be so humiliated by a common criminal being transferred from one prison to another.

“Our whole society, our mind-set, our political system--everything in this country is organized around security,” said Doran Rosenblum, a social commentator and columnist with Haaretz newspaper. “Yet here we have an example of a very dangerous man managing to escape in a country with the biggest army in the Middle East. It just shows how real security evades us.”

Then again, Abu Jamous is no ordinary thief. According to Israeli press reports, he has long been known as a champion pilferer, a burglar’s burglar who possessed almost magical power to slip into vehicles and apartments without notice. He was also known for leaving his business card, plastered with fingerprints, behind in an apparent taunt to authorities.

“He’s a cat with nine lives, a real devil,” said one of his guards, who was quoted anonymously in Maariv. “He certainly deserves the title as the Champion of Israeli Escape Artists.”

A year ago, Abu Jamous, 24, was arrested on charges of burglarizing dozens of Israeli homes. As he was being brought to court, he delivered a swift kick to a guard, then vanished into the crowded streets. Media reports say that, for several weeks, he lived in the apartment of an elderly woman, who was unaware the whole time that she had a roommate.

Abu Jamous reportedly joined Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group, according to reports in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot. He is accused of using his skills to help armed Palestinians dodge security sweeps and slip past roadblocks to enter Israel.

Abu Jamous had reportedly once burglarized the house of an Israeli navy colonel named Natan Barak; he is said to have returned in October to plant a bomb in a fire extinguisher. Barak noticed the device and called police, who detonated it safely in a nearby field.

Police set up a special investigative unit to catch Abu Jamous, and he was finally recaptured in November after being shot in the leg during a chase. Late last month, he was convicted and sentenced in the Kfar Saba Magistrates Court to 68 months in prison for the burglaries and car thefts. And he was due to be tried in a military court for membership in a terrorist organization and for the attempted murder of the colonel.

Even with his injured leg, Abu Jamous was declared a “high escape risk,” which meant that his transport was to be handled by the elite Nahshon prison security unit.

Oded Leibowitz, the driver who reported the great escape to police, told Yediot Aharonot that he could barely believe his eyes. “It was so strange that it took me some time to realize what I’d just seen,” he told the newspaper. “Everything seemed planned, like in a movie.”

As for Abu Jamous, he’s apparently already back at work. Three burglaries were reported Sunday around the area where he escaped, and police believe he was stocking up on clothes and provisions.

Commentator Rosenblum said Abu Jamous’ bold move against great odds has turned the tables a bit in Israel, where many Israelis tend to see themselves as smart and, when required, cleverly mischievous--and to view Palestinians as largely bereft of such qualities. “With this guy, the Palestinians now have their own myth in the making,” he said.

“Many young people will look up to him as a hero,” agreed Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian and director of the Center for Political and Media Analysis. “He managed to escape through the whole of the Israeli security system.”

The media and top security officials are calling for heads to roll. The 10 escorts have been suspended pending an investigation, which could include polygraph tests and will almost certainly include a look into whether the guards had fallen asleep during the trip.

Betty Zaroom, a 29-year-old student, believes the guards are being made scapegoats, however. “Every occupation makes mistakes,” she said. “Politicians make them all the time, and they don’t get blamed. The police are trying their best, and it’s ultimately the government’s fault for not giving them enough resources to do their jobs.”

Like a good mystery story, the case has left many Israelis trying to figure out how the Palestinian Houdini pulled it off.

Albert Dahan, a 39-year-old construction worker, thinks Abu Jamous must have had some inside help in the detention service. “There was probably some bribery,” he said. “Bribery works everywhere.”

Eli Eta, a 42-year-old shop owner, says he believes the guards just did something stupid, like forgetting to handcuff Abu Jamous, and are making him look superhuman to hide their mistake. “If we weren’t in the middle of the intifada, it wouldn’t be such big news,” he added.

Unnamed defense establishment officials termed the escape a complete disgrace in the local media. Enormous resources were spent to catch Abu Jamous, they said, only to have him slip through their hands again.

“We were sure he would no longer be a danger,” one senior security official told Maariv. “Now we have to start everything from scratch.”