Bethlehem: Early signs of explosion
Palestine, Local, 2/2/1998

"If no breakthrough is achieved, a new wave of violence might hit the region and by then this violence might be too difficult to contain," Palestinian sources warned Sunday.

The sources said the clashes in Bethlehem a day earlier "should serve a warning sign to the Israeli government regarding the tense situation, which is liable to explode at any time. The clashes erupted after Nidal Abu Srour, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, died on Thursday. Israel said he committed suicide but his relatives believe he was tortured to death.

An announcement made by the Israeli police said Abu Srour had a record of stealing cars and that he committed suicide because he did not want to clash with his Canadian wife. Abu Srour's relatives said he never got married. Later, a police spokesman expressed apology for the inaccurate statement about Abu Sruor's marriage.

Palestinian Police Colonel Farouq Amin, a member of the joint military liaison office with Israel, said he could not believe the report on Abu Srour's suicide and called for a special inquiry commission to look into the case. Hisham Abdul Razeq, a Palestine Legislative Council member in charge of the prisoners file in talks with Israel, said Abu Srour's death "was an indirect execution" and accused the Israeli authorities of creating conditions inside their jails for killing Palestinian detainees.

Abdul Fattah Abu Srour, one of the relatives, said Nidal was arrested on January 6, 1996 in Jerusalem on his way home after he finished his prayers in Al Aqsa Mosque. He noted that Nidal, 19, was never arrested before. After his arrest, Abdul Fattah said, the family solicited lawyer Izzat Abu Ghoush to follow up the case and stressed Nidal was never involved in car theft. He said the family believes Nidal suffered fatal wounds to his head during the course of interrogation.

On January 16, 1998, Israeli police phoned to inform Nidal's family that he was being transferred to the intensive care unit at Hadassah Hospital in West Jerusalem. The family later was told their son was clinically dead.

On January 28, said Abdul Fattah, Nidal underwent what was said to be a surgery to repair his vocal cords. ³Yet, on 29 January we received a call from the Russian Compound saying that Nidal had died,² he said, adding that they refused to hand over the body until all the costs of his medical treatment were paid.

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