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Prisoner studied history and political science at Hebrew University, learned 16 languages while in prison

Headline: "Jaradat: I read 6,000 books and learned 16 languages in prison"
     "His eyes, which shine with passion and ambition, wait for the relief of returning to the beloved city of Jenin, which he left dozens of years ago when he decided to take revenge for the poisoning of the schools in 1985, and was imprisoned by the Israeli occupation on charges of killing 3 Israeli soldiers.
He glances at the various Hebrew websites, and when we asked him about his life he said: 'My name is Hilal Jaradat from Jenin in the West Bank. I served 27 years in the Israeli occupation's prisons after I killed 3 Israeli soldiers in 1985.'
Prisoner Jaradat spoke with [the independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan and said: 'The stabbing operation came as a result of events that took place in Jenin, and particularly the poisoning of the schools. Therefore I killed the 3 Israeli soldiers next to the Megiddo Prison (PMW has been unable to verify these details -Ed.).'
Jaradat remembered details of that day: 'I got up at 7:00 a.m. and went to Haifa. Suddenly its [the bus'] route changed, I planned my operation (i.e., terror attack), and stopped next to the Megiddo Prison. I waited for soldiers to arrive at the stop, and indeed soldiers arrived. I carried out the stabbing operation, and in it I used a knife.'
He remembered and said: 'After I stabbed the soldiers, [Israeli] border police forces arrived from Wadi Al-Lajjun and I surrendered after I was unable to use the weapon I had taken from one of the soldiers...
After the stage of investigation, which lasted for three months, I was tried in the Nazareth court and sentenced to 3 life sentences. That was in 1985.' ...
He continued to talk while glancing at the laptop computer and his translations, and said: 'I entered the Jenin Prison, and through my membership in the Fatah organization I began to study. One of the prisoners guided me to take an interest in languages, and particularly the Hebrew language, since this is a very important issue and few people take interest in it, and the Western media needs to get to know the Palestinian and what is being written and spoken about in Palestine.'
He continued: 'Our battle against the enemy is a battle of knowledge, and therefore I began to teach and study. I began with Hebrew and English and then I moved on to many languages such as Russian, Spanish, and French, until I reached approximately 16 languages.'
He added: 'In prison I studied at the Hebrew University in the history and political science faculties. I read approximately 6,000 books in prison, and I translated for many of the prisoners.'"
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Hilal Jaradat - Palestinian terrorist who murdered 3 Israeli soldiers in 1985 and was sentenced to 3 life sentences. He was released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal in 2011. PMW has been unable to verify the details of his crime.

Since 2011, Israel has no longer given Palestinian terrorist prisoners access to higher education. Appeals made by prisoners to Israel's Supreme Court in 2012 and in 2015 were denied on the grounds that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to be allowed to study.

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