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Arab-Israeli Karim Younis, hailed by his supporters as the “Palestine prison chief,” said Thursday he was proud to be freed after 40 years in prison for killing a soldier.
Younis, 64, with a black and white turban draped over his shoulders, was greeted by hundreds of supporters singing the Palestinian national anthem in his hometown of Allah in northern Israel.
“Each prisoner’s story is the story of an entire nation, and I’m proud to be one of those who died for Palestine,” Younis said.
In 1983, he was convicted of murdering an Israeli soldier, Avraham Bromberg, in the occupied Golan Heights three years earlier. His death sentence was commuted to 40 years’ imprisonment.
“Forty years have passed as if they were nothing, because we see this as one of the main pillars of the struggle,” said Younis, who walked through the village holding a Palestinian flag.
Younis is part of Israel’s Arab minority, many of whom identify as Palestinians.
His decades of incarceration made him the longest-serving Palestinian detainee, whether from Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group.
The group said Younis was one of a group of prisoners set to be released a decade ago as part of a deal brokered by then-Secretary of State John Kerry, but talks broke down.
Younis’ brother said his joy was “boundless” but “incomplete” because their parents died while his siblings were in custody.
“His hair and wrinkles changed, but his resilience increased dozens of times,” Nadeem Younis told AFP.
“His belief in the cause was stronger as well as his knowledge and skills in politics. Karim has grown through his sacrifice,” the 56-year-old added.
Younis was released before dawn on Thursday and was left by prison authorities on the side of the road in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana, close to the prison, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said.
His cousin, Maher Younis, who is also in prison for the soldier’s killing, is expected to be released within weeks.
Israel’s Interior Minister Ariye Derry wrote to the state prosecutor on Tuesday, requesting a legal opinion on revoking the citizenship of the two men.
“Deprivation of their citizenship will be a critical message to those who have become symbols of their acts of terrorism,” Derry wrote.
Karim Younis’ lawyer told AFP that his client had no other nationality.
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