UK embassy: Man who threatened suicide detained

At the end of negotiations which lasted for over eight hours, Special Police Unit officers took into custody Nadim Injahz, a 28-year-old Palestinian who threatened to commit suicide with a gun at the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

The policemen found Injahz was in possession of a plastic gun and a large sum of money. Police said the man will be taken into custody at the Yarkon District police. There were no injuries in the incident.

Large police and Magen David Adom teams were dispatched to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv Thursday noon. Police reported that Injahz, a Palestinian collaborator from Ramallah, has entered the embassy's complex carrying a gun and threatening to hurt himself if he is not granted political asylum in Britain.

Injahz demanded to be provided with a plane that will fly him from the Sdeh Dov Airport in town to Europe.

An embassy employee told Ynet that Injahz was detected immediately upon entering the compound, and described him as a short and thin man. He added that the embassy's security guards have asked their superiors whether they should try and subdue the man themselves, but were ordered to leave the handling of the matter to the Israeli police.

In a briefing to reporters, head of the Tel Aviv District police, Major General David Tzur, said: "This is a disappointed collaborator who wants to leave the country. We want to get this incident over with quietly and are hoping we can prevent him from committing suicide. We have no interest in seeing him hurt himself or others."

"We will obviously also examine how he managed to break into the embassy," he added.

Special elite units and dozens of policemen arrived at the place. A police helicopter circled over the area.

The British embassy reported that the Israeli police were operating with the UK's consent in the area, which is under British jurisdiction.

Standoff at the embassy (Photo: Niv Claderon)

A local resident who maintains an apartment neighboring the embassy said security outside the British embassy is lax.

"Unlike the American embassy here, which is a fortress, there is just one guard who protects

the outside of the British embassy," explained the resident.

"The guard is stationed at a small post and controls the fence and parking lot to the building. I regularly see the guard leave his post to purchase things at a neighboring store, or at times to even talk to local girls. I have been astounded by the lax security at the embassy," the resident said.

Wanted in Palestinian Authority and wanted in Israel 

In Assaf Levi's article published two months ago in Yedioth Ahronoth, Injahz spoke of his difficult situation. According to him, it has been some eight years which he has roamed between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. In the PA, Tanzim threaten to kill him, and in Israel he is categorized as an illegal alien.

His hardships started in 1995 when one of his brothers became a Shin Bet collaborator. "In the village where I lived, they found out that my brother was a collaborator and they started to harass me. For Arabs, to be a collaborator is worse than being a settler. I was very ashamed. They beat my head in with a stone, burnt down my house and abused me, until I was banished from the village. I was only 16 years old at the time," he recounted.

But Injahz’s troubles did not end there. “After they banished me from the village,” he recounts, “I moved to Ramallah. The Tanzim saw me and said to me: ‘If you want to stay here, you must work with us. Bring us weapons and money.’ Nasser Abu-Hamad, who was Marwan Barghouti’s lieutenant, got me in touch with two Tanzim guys, and together, we broke into hundreds of houses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We found many guns, mostly belonging to soldiers, and we brought everything to Ramallah.”

“In 2000,” Injahz continues, “there was a plan to rob a liquor store on Salma Street in Tel Aviv. I was already fed up with the burglaries; I was being intimidated, and I only did it so I could be in Ramallah. Shortly before the robbery, I went to the Jaffa police on my own and told them about the plan. I said that they are extorting me and that I wanted to turn a new leaf. I didn’t know that doing that would mess up my life.

"They listened to me at the Jaffa police station and promised that I would receive papers to stay in Israel, in return for turning in the thieves. That’s how I became a police informer. After the police caught the two guys who committed the robbery, they gave me money and promised me an Israeli identification card.”

He has been stuck in Israel for years without a passport and has been a frequent "visitor" in Israeli jails.

Not recognized as 'being under threat'

The High Court of Justice rejected several days ago Injahz's request to be recognized as being under threat. The judges suggested to Injahz that he stay in custody, but he refused and the appeal was rejected. After his release, Injahz traveled to Tel Aviv where he contacted Attorney Michael Taplo.

Eitan Diamond of the B'Tselem human rights organization has been in touch with Injahz in recent days. "I spoke to his three times during the affair, tried to give him hope. He sounds suicidal. He said that he had already approached all the authorities, and that they all turned him down. He's in despair. I turned to the Defense Ministry in the past in order to try and help him, but the relevant committee rejected his appeal, and stated that if he disagrees he can approach them again," Diamond told Ynet.

Prior to the incident, Injahz called Diamond's office several times. During his last call he spoke to the secretary and told her that he has entered the British embassy. "He refuses to talk to anyone, including me… this is a terrified guy who claims his life is in danger," he added."

Roee Nahmias contributed to this report