Last update - 00:00 18/02/2007
Man jailed with gunman Natan-Zada: I warned he was dangerous
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
A resident of the Bedouin village Beit Zarzir currently serving a 14-year sentence for criminal and security offenses said that he had warned authorities of the dangerous tendencies displayed by Eden Natan-Zada, who went on to murder four Israeli Arabs in Shfaram in August 2005.
Zada died on August 4 when he was lynched after killing four people with his army-issue weapon on board a bus.
Ahmed al-Hayeb, 39, told the Nazareth-based newspaper "Al-Sinara" that prison officials ignored his repeated warning against Natan-Zada prior to the murders.
He said that he had met Natan-Zada while they were both being held in a military jail in Tzrifin in March 2005. Hayeb maintained that during that time Natan-Zada affiliated himself with extreme right-wing groups and made threatening comments against Arabs.
"He said about me: That's an Arab, that's a terrorist. I want to kill him," Hayeb told Al-Sinara.
According to Hayeb, Natan-Zada tried to stab him while they were imprisoned together. "I was alert," he said, "he put a knife next to my room in order to confuse me and murder me." Eventually the knife was confiscated.
Hayeb said that he made numerous complaints against Natan-Zada which led to the boy's transfer to another military detention facility. However, Hayeb's specific warnings against Natan-Zada's alarming tendencies were completely ignored, he said. "I didn't remain silent, but I couldn't really talk to anyone, no one would listen to me," Hayeb added.
In the coming days, the Haifa District Attorney's office intends to file indictments against those involved in Natan-Zada's lynching. District Attorney's office officials said 14 indictments are in the works - four of them for attempted murder, five for aggravated assault and five for assault of an officer.