Nachshon Wachsman
Photo: Reproduction
Owner of home used to hold Wachsman freed
Ziad Najib released from Israeli prison after serving 13 years for supplying house to hold captive soldier
Israel has released from prison a Palestinian involved in the capture of IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman, who was murdered in October of 1994.
The prisoner, 46-year old Ziad Najib, is the owner of the home in which Wachsman was held by Hamas, in Bir Nabala near Jerusalem. A fatal rescue attempt at the home by Sayeret Matkal left Wachsman and another soldier, Nir Poraz, dead.
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On Sunday Najib was released after carrying out his sentence, and his family took him to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. He was welcomed into the city with a festive parade during which marchers threw candy, cheered him, and carried him through the Old City.
The welcome parade was attended by a number of high-ranking Palestinian officials, including heads of the committee for prisoner affairs, who are Fatah members. Najib said conditions in prison were harsh, and that a prisoner-exchange deal was the only shot for many of the detainees there.
Wachsman, a combat soldier belonging to the Golani Brigade's Orev unit, was captured while hitchhiking home in central Israel. Four terrorists dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews picked him up and held him at Najib's home.
While the government negotiated for his release, the Shin Bet succeeded in arresting one of the kidnappers, who disclosed Wachsman's location in Bir Nabala. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered a military attempt to retrieve him.
The attempt was made by the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, but it was steeped in failure. Two of the three explosive devices meant to destroy the home's walls malfunctioned, and the soldiers were unsuccessful in breaking through the steel door to the room in which Wachsman was being held.
Captain Nir Poraz, who led the operation, was killed along with the captive soldier.
