ARA, Israel: One of Israel’s longest-serving Palestinian prisoners was released on Thursday after serving a 40-year sentence, despite calls from members of the new right-wing government to strip him of his citizenship.
Karim Younis, 60, was convicted in 1983 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights of kidnapping and killing Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Association, he served the longest continuous sentence of any Palestinian.
Kounis was greeted as a hero in his hometown, the Israeli Arab village of Ara. He was greeted by family, friends, and supporters who chanted and carried him through the streets on their shoulders while he was wrapped in a traditional Palestinian shawl.
“It was 40 years full of stories, stories of prisoners, and each story is a story of a nation,” Younis explained. “I am very proud to be one of those who made sacrifices for Palestine, and we were willing to make even more for the sake of the Palestinian cause.”
Arabs make up roughly one-fifth of the Israeli population, with the majority descended from Palestinians who stayed in the newly formed state after its 1948 war of independence.
They have long argued about their place in Israeli politics, balancing their Palestinian ancestry with Israeli citizenship, with many identifying as or with Palestinians.
Palestinians regard their imprisoned brothers as heroes in their fight for statehood in territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Terrorists are those who have been convicted of violence against Israeli citizens.
On Tuesday, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri called for Younis’ Israeli citizenship to be revoked.
“When we are talking about someone who has become a symbol for committing criminal acts of terror,” Deri wrote in a letter to Israel’s Attorney General, “revoking his citizenship will send an important message.”
Some relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian violence have also spoken out in support of such a measure.
“Israeli citizenship is a gift. “An Israeli citizen cannot hold an Israeli ID card in one hand while murdering a soldier with the other, and the murderer cannot be released from jail and walk around like any other member of our nation,” Avraham Bromberg’s nephew, also named Avraham in his uncle’s memory, told the Israeli Walla news site on Monday.
Source: Reuters
