Palestinian who stormed Turkish embassy faces court

Tel Aviv Magistrates' Court to extend Nadim Injaz's remand by seven days. He is suspected of illegally staying in Israel, possession of brass knuckles, illegal entry to embassy, and threats

Eli Senyor|Published: 08.18.10 , 14:18

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Wednesday extended by seven days the remand of Nadim Injaz, the Palestinian who stormed the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv in an attempt to take hostages in exchange for asylum.

The police reported that he is suspected of staying illegally in Israel, possession of brass knuckles, illegally entering an embassy, and threats.

Staff members at the Turkish embassy said that Injaz arrived at the compound on Yarkon Street in Tel Aviv in the evening hours on Tuesday, jumped the section of the fence not covered by security cameras, and climbed from the drainpipe to the second floor. He entered the deputy consul's room and demanded that she grant him political asylum.

The diplomat told him that the embassy was closed, but Injaz was persistent. Embassy security was called. Injaz continued to resist arrest and was shot following a skirmish that developed on the site. Turkish diplomats said that he tried to take hostages at knife-point and was also armed with what turned out to be a toy gun.

The police have rejected this version of events and claim Injaz entered the embassy with consent.

At around midnight the embassy's security allowed an Israeli paramedic in to evaluate Injaz's condition and evacuate him to the nearby Sourasky Medical Center. While being carried out, Injaz inveighed against "the Jews" and called out, "Death to Israel" and "We will kill you all".

Injaz claims that he has served since 2002 as a Palestinian collaborator for the Shin Bet, which he asserts even tried to convince him to assassinate Marwan Barghouti. In recent years, he apparently ceased his activities and abandoned his operators, but feared for his life in the Palestinian Authority, where he is wanted for treason. This provided him reason to infiltrate into Israel in order to ask for political asylum in Turkey.

This is not the first time Injaz attempted to take hostages at an embassy with demands for political asylum. He was embroiled in a similar incident in the British embassy in 2006.