Salih Jahalin

Jordan: Ex-prisoner released in Shalit deal found dead

Fatah operative who was released as part of Shalit prisoner exchange deal found dead in Jordanian side of Dead Sea; cause of death undetermined

Elior Levy|Published: 04.24.13 , 01:57

Salih Jahalin, 54, a Fatah operative who was released in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal which secured the release of Gilad Shalit, was found dead Monday at the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea.

Next to his body, authorities found a sack the contents of which have yet to be identified, but according to suspicions could either be drugs or explosives.

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Jahalin, from the village of al-Khader near Bethlehem, was arrested in 2006 in Israel and was sentenced to nine years in prison for smuggling weapons to West Bank terrorists. He had served five years of his sentence before he was released in the Shalit deal.

Sources familiar with Jahalin's family told Ynet that he continued to smuggle weapons even after his release.

According to Palestinian sources, Jahalin was most likely planning to swim to the Israeli side of the Dead Sea and transfer the sack he was carrying to the West Bank.

Speculations regarding the cause of death estimated that he had either been shot by unknown perpetrators or had drowned in Jordan's territorial waters and his body was washed ashore.

Jordan informed Israeli authorities of the body. Jahalin's family members are trying to coordinate the transfer of the body to be buried in Jericho, where his family is originally from.

You can contact Elior Levy, Ynet's Palestinian Affairs Correspondent, at: paldesk @gmail.com