Theater kid turned militant stars in Israeli prison break

By JOSEPH KRAUSS
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — For nearly two decades, Israelis and Palestinians have watched Zakaria Zubeidi’s progression from a child actor to a swaggering militant, to the scarred face of a West Bank theater promoting “cultural resistance” to Israeli occupation. In his latest act, Zubeidi has emerged as one of Israel’s most wanted fugitives after tunneling out of a high-security prison on Monday with five other Palestinian militants. Zubeidi rose to fame as a militant leader during the second Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000. But few Palestinian fighters had closer ties to Israelis than Zubeidi, who for many years was an even bigger celebrity in Israel than in the Palestinian territories.