In the village of Ara, the celebrations and receptions continue at the Younes family home for visitors who come to greet the terrorist Karim Younes, who was released from Israeli prison on January 5 after serving a 40-year prison sentence following his conviction in a court of law for the murder of an IDF soldier.
The celebrations continue in a low profile following warnings from the police to the Yunes family and the residents of the village not to have mass celebrations.
Among those who came to the home of the terrorist’s family to congratulate him, Muhammad Baraka, the head of the monitoring committee of the Arabs of Israel, Arab Knesset members and many political activists and dignitaries.
The Yunes family erected a large tent in the village of Aara to host the visitors.
PA chairman Abu Mazen called on the phone to congratulate Karim Younes on his release and told him: “The issue of the prisoners is a sacred issue, we will work together to free the prisoners and our homeland, we are waiting for the release of Marwan Barghouti and Maher Younes to celebrate their freedom and we will clean Israel’s detention camps from all the prisiones.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya also called Karim Younes to congratulate him on his release.
The Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Ishtayeh, all the Palestinian factions and the central committee of the Fatah movement published congratulations on the release of Karim Younes.
PA officials said that Karim Younes will be invited to Ramallah for a meeting with Abu Mazen, Karim Younes announced that he also intends to visit the Gaza Strip ,” I will visit Gaza even if I have to infiltrate there, I see myself as half Gazan”, he emphasized.
All these plans of Karim Younes depend of course on Israel’s security forces not restricting his movements.
Karim Younes 65 years old was the oldest Palestinian security prisoner in the Israeli prison, and received the title of “dean of prisoners”.
He was convicted of the murder of IDF soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980 together with his cousin Maher Younes who is also supposed to be released from prison in the coming days.
They were initially sentenced to death by hanging but later the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, the shortening of their sentences was made possible thanks to the prisoner exchange deal known as the “Shalit deal” in 2011.,
Israel refused to release the two as part of the prisoner exchange deals with the terrorist organizations because they were citizens of the State of Israel.
The PA supports terrorism
The special relationship between the PA and Karim Younes is another and dangerous indication of the PA’s support for terrorist acts carried out by Arabs who are citizens of Israel.
In 2014, Karim Younes was included in a group of security prisoners who carried out attacks before the Oslo Accords and was supposed to be released from prison as part of the fourth phase of releasing terrorists from Israeli prisons as part of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but .Prime Minister Netanyahu stopped the release of the group and the negotiations ended
In 2017, Abu Mazen the head of the PA appointed Karim Younes as a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement, he was appointed as a representative of the security prisoners alongside Marwan Barghouti, which indicates that the PA considers terrorist elements among Israeli Arabs who belong to Fatah to be part of its leadership even though they are Israeli citizens who are supposed to keep loyalty to the State of Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office condemned the appointment at the time, but the PA chairman did not cancel it.
In 2017, Karim Younes together with Marwan Barghouti led the hunger strike of the security prisoners which was eventually broken, a strike that was to the dismay of PA chairman Abu Mazen who saw it as a challenge by Marwan Barghouti to his leadership.
In February 2021, Hussein al-Sheikh, a member of the Fatah leadership, visited Karim Younes in the “Hadrim” prison, on the mission of Abu Mazen and with the approval of Israel, to discuss with him the preparations for the elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the prevention of Marwan Barghouti’s split from the Fatah movement.
Barghouti then considered forming a party separate from Fatah and even running in the presidential elections against PA chairman Abu Mazen. The Fatah leadership feared that the split of votes would strengthen the Hamas movement and it would win the elections.
According to the Oslo Accords, the PA is supposed to fight against terrorism and not encourage it, the appointment of an Israeli citizen who carried out terrorist attacks and the murder of an IDF soldier to a position under the Palestinian leadership is a defiance of the PA against Israel and a violation of the Oslo Accords.
Palestinian officials say that Karim Younes will continue after his release from prison, to serve as a member of Fatah’s central committee, and he is supposed to assist in the protest actions planned by the headquarters of the security prisoners in the West Bank and in the Arab sector in Israel against the changes that Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir intends to make in relation to security prisoners in Israeli prisons.
A few days ago, the headquarters of the security prisoners published a notice in which it warned that the changes planned to be implemented by the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir will lead to a hunger strike by all five thousand security prisoners and a new intifada.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri appealed to the Legal Adviser to the Government to approve his plan to revoke the Israeli citizenship of Karim Younes and his cousin Maher Younes.
This move is a correct one but the government must initiate a law that will allow the cancellation of the citizenship of terrorists who are citizens of Israel.
Another move that is requested is to impose a restriction on the movements of Karim Younes or to deport him to the Gaza Strip or abroad so that he cannot participate in the inciting activities of the Arab sector in Israel.
Israel must respond firmly to the provocation of the Palestinian Authority, which recruits hostile elements from among the Arabs of Israel, gives them status in its leadership thanks to their terrorist activities and encourages them to continue this activity within Israel’s territory as well.
