Longest serving Palestinian prisoner out of jail after 40 years

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

ARA, Israel (AA) – Held behind bars by Israel for four decades, 66-year-old Palestinian Karim Younis was finally released from prison last week.

Younis, from the town of Ara in northern Israel, was detained on Jan. 6, 1983, and was sentenced to life for membership in Fatah movement. The sentence was later reduced to 40 years in prison.

Recalling the day of his release from prison, Younis said it was like a “military operation”.

"The Israeli prison authorities turned the process of my release into something like a military operation,” he said in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency.

"It was almost before dawn. They took me, and I expected that they would hand me over to the area police to be released from the police station. They took me by car in a strange and reprehensible way. Every five minutes, the car would enter a side road and be switched as if we were in a military operation,” Younis said.

"They dropped me off somewhere, and an officer handed me my belongings, gave me a bus card, and directed me with his hand towards a bus stop, and told me: Go home by yourself," he recalled.

Younis said he moved to the bus station, where he met a number of Palestinian workers.

“I asked one of them for his mobile phone to call my family. When they heard my name, they all gathered around me and tried to give me their food and drink, but I called my family and after half an hour they came to the station to pick me up," he said.

Different world

Since his release, thousands of Palestinians flocked to Younis’ house to shake hands with him.

Younis, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails, was imprisoned, when he was 26 years old.

After four decades behind bars, he was released from prison to find that the world has changed.

"It feels strange and is hard to describe. When you go out into a world that is completely different from the world you left, you have a very strange feeling," he said.

"It is difficult to describe my feeling in words, but it is a human feeling. It is new for a person to feel his freedom and humanity after very long years of imprisonment."

Younis noted that his family lined up to shake his hand, but he found a whole generation of relatives whom he had not met before, although he knew them through photographs as only first-degree relatives were allowed to visit him in prison.

-'Extremist government'

An Israeli law being prepared by the Knesset allows the deportation of detainees or released prisoners who received financial aid from the Palestinian Authority and the withdrawal of their nationality.

"The campaign of incitement began even before I got out of prison, and they tried more than once to pass a law to expel anyone who works against the Israelis," Younis said.

Commenting on the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Younis said: "The new Cabinet is perhaps the most extremist and fascist in the history of Israel.”

"We say that it is the most extremist government in Israel because of these extremists who became ministers," Younis said.

"The biggest indication of this is the appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir as Minister of National Security, meaning that he is also responsible for the Prison Service,” he added.

As for Ben-Gvir, Younis said he used to threaten prisoners “to deny their rights and send them back to the 1970s.”

“Our solace is that our prisoners today are united under one roof and one banner, which is the supreme leadership of the prisoners to face this challenge and confront Ben-Gvir.”

“Our prisoners will fight a battle to defend not only their achievements, but also their dignity and their existence. For them, the matter will become a matter of life or death."

As for his future, Younis said his ultimate dream is to put an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands.

"I will do my duty towards the (Palestinian) cause and I am ready to continue the struggle because there is no retirement in the resistance,” he added.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat