Palestinian Body-Snatchers Enrage the Druze
By: Hugh Fitzgerald
Tiran Fero was a 18-year-old Druze young man driving in Jenin when, on November 22, he had a car accident, was seriously wounded, and was taken to a Palestinian hospital for treatment. His family members were in his hospital room when 20 to 30 masked men entered. Fero’s uncle identified them as members of the Islamic Jihad. Here the accounts differ: the Israeli military claim Fero was already dead when his body was taken away by those armed militants, who were hoping to exchange Fero’s body for that of a dead terrorist held by Israel. However, Fero’s own family members, who were in his hospital room when the Islamic Jihad members barged in, claim that he was still alive at the time, but the Palestinian body-snatchers, in disconnecting him from his life support, caused his death.
His body was then held by the body-snatchers, who were hoping for a possible exchange with Israel, while both Israel and the P.A. negotiated with those Palestinians for the return of Fero’s body. The Druze themselves threatened to enter Jenin and to attack Palestinian Arabs unless Ferro’s body was handed over. In the Druze city of Yarka, three Palestinian laborers from Hebron were briefly kidnapped by masked men, in an apparent revenge attack after Fero’s body was snatched from the West Bank hospital by Palestinian terrorists. The three laborers were freed quickly, as soon as Fero’s body was returned to his family.
The Palestinian Authority knew that it had to obtain the release of the body, for otherwise its failure to exercise authority in the West Bank would be visible to all. After six hours of negotiations between the PA and the body snatchers of Islamic Jihad, with IDF threats to use force “if need be” always in the background, Islamic Jihad agreed to turn over Fero’s body to the PA, which then turned it over to the IDF which, in turn, delivered the body to Fero’s family for burial. It appears that the threats from an enraged Druze community to act against the Palestinians in Jenin, the kidnapping by angry Druze of three Palestinian laborers from Hebron, and the IDF’s threat that if Fero’s body was not quickly turned over then “other measures” – an IDF assault – would be used to get the body back, finally convinced the Islamic Jihad members to turn over Fero’s body, which was promptly buried by his family in a ceremony attended by hundreds of Druze.
The Druze have expressed their gratitude to Israel for helping to obtain the release of Fero’s body. This reinforces the ever-closer ties between the Jewish state and the Druze. And the most immediate effects of this episode will be felt not in the West Bank, but on the Golan, where more Druze are likely to opt for Israeli citizenship.
There are several reasons why the older Druze on the Golan have continued to display their loyalty to the Syrian regime for so long. First, they worry that in some future settlement between Israel and Syria, that the area might be returned to Syria, and any Druze whom Damascus then perceived as having been insufficiently loyal while under Israeli rule would suffer a harsh punishment. Second, they have wanted to ensure that their Druze relatives inside Syria would remain safe, and that required the Golan Druze to keep their distance from Israel.
In recent years, however, a quiet shift has taken place. After years of near-blanket rejection of Israeli offers of citizenship, the number of Golan Druze applying to become Israeli citizens has begun to tick upwards.
It has been 41 years since Israel annexed the Golan. With each passing year, it has become ever clearer to the younger Druze on the Golan, who have known no other rule but that of Israel, that Israel is on the Golan to stay, and they need not fear that the territory will be returned to Syria. In December 2021, then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced a plan to double the number of Israelis living on the Golan from 25,000 to 50,000; that was another assurance to the Druze that Israel will not let go of the Golan. The Druze on the Golan are also well aware of how their fellow Druze in Israel have fared as loyal citizens of the Jewish state; Israeli Druze are subject to the same requirement to serve in the IDF as Israeli Jews and some have risen high in the ranks of the IDF, such as Major General Ghassan Alian, who served during the Second Lebanon War and has been a commander of the Golani Brigade.
Once again we have an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences:
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) thought it had found a way to exact from Israel a swap of bodies. It chose to seize a Druze man, Tonin Fero, from his hospital bed in Jenin, The PIJ claims he was already dead when they snatched him; his own family members, present in the hospital room when he was taken, are convinced that Fero was alive until the PIJ unplugged him from his life support; the Druze community insists that the PIJ — Palestinian Arabs all — “murdered” Fero. They are not assuaged by the return of his body; the incident widens the gulf between the Druze and the Palestinian Arabs. And Israel, which made great efforts to have his body returned, including threats by the IDF that unless Fero’s body was delivered to his family “other means” would be found — has won the gratitude of many Druze, including those living on that indispensable addition to Israeli territory, which will never be given back to Syria, the Golan Heights.