Black Leopard leader\'s family receive news of son\'s death

Abdel-Nasser al-Bouz Ramallah – Sona al-Deak The family of Abdel-Nasser al-Bouz, the founder and leader of the group(al-Fahd al-Aswad (Black Leopard) which supported  the Fatah movement in Nablus during the first intifada (uprising), were surprised when they found the name of their brother listed among those whose remains Israel intends to send to the Palestinian Authority. There had been little hope that he was still alive, according to one of Abdel-Nasser\'s brothers.
Al-Bouz vanished in August 1989 at the peak of the first intifiada, since then, his family have received no information about him. Sobhi al-Bouz, his 39 year old brother, said in a press statement: “The news was a shock to us, and eliminated our last hope to find him alive.”
Israel announced that it will deliver on Thursday to the Palestinians, dozens of  Palestinian bodies which Israel has kept in graves.
Many of the dead had carried out bombings inside Israel during the first intifada, while others died during the intifada or during their infiltration across the border to perform commando operations against Israeli targets.
The brothers of al-Bouz made strenuous efforts during more than two decades to discover  the fate of their brother which came to nothing.  Israel denied knowing anything about him, and no information was available from either the Palestinian  Authority or human rights organisations.
Sobhi added that: when the Palestinian Authority was established, \"we met President Yasser Arafat in Gaza then in Nablus, and informed him about Nasser’s case. We knew  the Palestinian leadership had asked him to leave the homeland as he was being sought by the Israelis.\"  No information was gleaned from these trips, according to Sobhi.
Nasser has six brothers in Nablus who are married, with children. Their father died 16 years ago, and their mother passed away five years ago. No one knew anything about what had become of their brother who would have been around 47 years old if he had lived.
“My mother died dreaming of the return of Nasser when she could hug him in her arms.” Sobhi said with sadness.
“Nasser was at the top of the wanted list  by the occupation, on charges of founding the group al-Fahd al-Aswad, which called for the elimination of the agents of the occupation. The occupation army stormed our home in the old town several times in search of him” Sobhi added.
The Israeli authorties closed down the family house in the old town in 1988, so they had to live in an apartment belonging to the Zakat (almsgiving) committee in the town, then returned to the home after the evacuation of Israeli forces from Nablus in 1994.
He added that after the Palestinian leadership asked Nasser to leave Palestine, he came to say farwell and left. Since then they have heard nothing about him until now when they were informed that he had been martyred. Sobhi said that they will carry out an honourable funeral for him, and will bury him beside his parents. “From now on we will be able to visit his grave and pray for his pure spirit.” Sobhi said. He added: “The question remains, what happened to him and why did the occupation maintain their silence about him for all these years?”