Gaza group demands release of Palestinian prisoners in swap for Israeli held in Iraq

‘Our people in Iraq hold the most important key to the liberation of our prisoners,’ prisoner committee chief says of Elizabeth Tsurkov

Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel

Elizabeth Tsurkov on the banks of the Euphrates river in Raqqa, Syria, during a research trip she conducted to northern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and Turkey in July 2019 (Facebook/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Elizabeth Tsurkov on the banks of the Euphrates river in Raqqa, Syria, during a research trip she conducted to northern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and Turkey in July 2019 (Facebook/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A Palestinian prisoners association on Sunday called on Iraq to conclude a deal with Israel to exchange Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, abducted in Iraq in March, with Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.

The “Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces in Gaza” organized a demonstration outside the Red Cross headquarters in the Gaza Strip, in the presence of representatives of various political and Islamic figures and former prisoners, according to the Palestinian news daily Al-Quds.

Tsurkov, a 36-year old Middle East analyst, was kidnapped by members of a Shiite militia affiliated with Iran while she was in Baghdad conducting research for her PhD.

The coordinator for the Gazan prisoner committee, Zaki Dababish, told Al-Quds that “our people in Iraq have captured the Israeli Elizabeth Tsurkov, a terrorist of the usurper entity, which has wreaked havoc in Palestine, Iraq and elsewhere.”

He noted that Tsurkov is originally from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, “one of the most hateful Zionist settlements, separating the north of the West Bank from the south,” and that she worked years ago for former cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, “one of the most violent and extremist Zionists.”

Dababish added that 5,000 Palestinian prisoners “gave their life and freedom for Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem, in support of Islam and the Muslim nation, and they are the first line of defense in the face of the Zionist criminal machine.”

Elizabeth Tsurkov giving a speech at the Knesset about the humanitarian situation in Gaza (Facebook/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“Our people in Iraq hold the most important key to the liberation of our prisoners, as [Tsurkov] can only be released in an exchange deal,” he said, possibly alluding to the close ties shared with the Iranian regime by both terrorist groups in Gaza and the Shiite militias in Iraq that hold the Israeli researcher.

Tsurkov, a respected Middle East analyst and a doctoral student at Princeton University, has repeatedly highlighted the humanitarian situation in Gaza in her work.

Last week, an Arab media outlet reported that her kidnapping at the hands of the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia was carried out to pressure Israel to release an imprisoned Iranian operative.

She was reportedly given personal warnings by Israeli officials about traveling to Iraq on her Russian passport in the months leading up to her abduction, due to her repeated stays in the country.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it holds Iraq accountable for Tsurkov’s safety and fate, and accused Kataeb Hezbollah of holding her, but the pro-Iran armed faction has implied it was not involved in her disappearance.

Kataeb Hezbollah is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, made up of dozens of mostly Shiite militias that were integrated into Iraqi security forces in recent years.

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