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Palestinian Ex-Militant Speaks about Leaving Terror
(Sputnik-Russia) Growing up in Jenin in the West Bank, Mohammed Massad listened to the songs that called on the Palestinians to liberate their land from the "Zionist oppressors," and as a teen he enrolled in the Black Panthers, Fatah's armed group that was responsible for multiple terror activities against Israelis. In the early '90s, he (along with other members of the cell) tried to kidnap an Israel soldier. Israeli security forces arrested the entire cell and sent them to prison. Released in 1993, he started working for the Palestinian Authority. "We appreciated the Palestinian leadership when it was in exile, but when they came here in 1993, straight after the Oslo Accords, we realized the magnitude of our mistake. Their corruption shocked many," said Massad. In early 2000s he started working in Israel in construction. Surrounded by Israelis, he realized "they weren't as bad as the PA depicted them to be." In 2002, while waiting for workers whom he used to smuggle into Israel for work, he noticed a Palestinian terrorist who pounced on an Israeli soldier patrolling the fence that separates Israel from the West Bank in an attempt to grab his rifle. "My instincts were very sharp, I ran towards the terrorist, beat him up and managed to get the rifle back," he recalls. "I only want peace. But I am not alone. There are hundreds of thousands like me, who want to lead a peaceful life along with Israelis," he said, referring to the 150,000 Palestinians who work in Israel in agriculture and construction and who rely on Israel for an income. "We can still make this area better if we only educate our children not to repeat our mistakes and not to differentiate between Jews, Muslims and Christians. After all: we are all human beings."