PLO calls Karim Younes “heroic prisoner” and says more terrorist prisoners will be released
Headline: “The PLO Executive Committee emphasized opposition to the occupation government’s declared plan on all levels”
“The following is a statement issued after the PLO Executive Committee’s meeting [led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Jan. 5, 2023]:
…
The Executive Committee salutes all our heroic prisoners in the occupation’s prisons who are resisting with their resolve, defiance, and fierce willpower to all the occupation’s attempts to break their determination… and just as heroic prisoner Karim Younes (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1 together with an accomplice) will be released, so too our prisoner leaders Marwan Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, orchestrated three attacks in which 5 were murdered), Fuad Al-Shubaki (i.e., senior PA official and weapons smuggler), and Ahmad Sa’adat (i.e., head of the PFLP terror organization) will be released…
The Executive Committee expressed its appreciation for the UN’s call to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel)… and emphasized that no statute of limitations will apply to our people’s right [of return] that rests on [UN] Resolution 194 (see note below -Ed.), and it will remain one of our people’s basic principles and decisions of national consensus.”
Karim Younes - Israeli Arab terrorist who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980 together with his cousin Maher Younes. Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012. Younes is serving a 40-year sentence. In May 2017 Younes was appointed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Fatah Central Committee. Younes was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2023.
Marwan Barghouti – Palestinian terrorist and member of the Palestinian Authority parliament who is serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks in which 5 people were murdered: one attack on the Jerusalem-Maale Adumim road (June 12, 2001) in which Greek Orthodox monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered by terrorists Ismail Radaida and Yasser Ah'Rabai, another attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem (Jan. 15, 2002) in which Yoela Hen was murdered by terrorists led by Mohammed Matla, and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002) in which Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Police Officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat, were murdered by terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna. When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction). After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected as a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament. On Dec. 4, 2016, he was elected to Fatah's Central Committee.
Ahmad Sa’adat - serving a 30-year sentence for heading the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. A song at a PFLP event also praised him for planning the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001, but he has not been tried for this crime.
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors."