Fatah says murderer “has constituted a true symbol”
Headline: “The [PA] president, the [Fatah] Central Committee, the [Palestinian] National Council, and the [PA] prime minister congratulated fighter Karim Younes on his release”
“The Fatah Movement Central Committee congratulated our people over the freedom of leader Karim Younes (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1 together with an accomplice), the most veteran prisoner in the world (sic., Younes did not serve the longest sentence in the world), after more than 350,000 hours, more than 14,000 days, and 40 years that he served in the Israeli occupation’s prisons.
The Central Committee emphasized that Karim Younes, with his legendary resolve, has constituted a true symbol for all the free people in the world who were determined to reject injustice, oppression, and racism. The Central Committee also saluted all the female and male prisoners on the path to freedom and release from the occupation’s prison cells.
The committee said: ‘We salute all the female and male prisoners, foremost among them Fatah Central Committee member leader Marwan Barghouti (i.e., terrorist, orchestrated three attacks in which 5 were murdered), senior prisoner Fuad Al-Shubaki (i.e., senior PA official and weapons smuggler), Fatah Revolutionary Council member Zakariya Zubeidi (i.e., Fatah terror leader), Diya Al-Agha (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), Ahmad Sa’adat (i.e., head of PFLP terror organization), the heroes of the freedom tunnel (refers to 6 terrorist prisoners who temporarily escaped Gilboa Prison in 2021; see note below -Ed.), the soul of prisoner Martyr Nasser Abu Hmeid (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 7), the prisoner Martyrs, and the rest of the knights and maidens of freedom, and we emphasize the continuation of the path of struggle for the freedom of Palestine and the release of all the prisoners.’ …
[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh also congratulated Fatah Central Committee member fighter Karim Younes on his release from the Israeli occupation’s prisons.
Shtayyeh emphasized that all the male and female prisoners in the occupation’s prisons will achieve their freedom, and he called on the international human rights organizations to intervene in order to release all the prisoners, particularly the female prisoners, the children, and the sick.
[Palestinian] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) Head Rawhi Fattouh congratulated our people on the release of fighter Karim Younes.
In a press release, Fattouh said: ‘Karim is a member of Fatah and one of the most prominent Palestinian fighters. He joined the path of struggle at the start of his youth, and he was sentenced to death, which was later commuted to a life sentence that was limited to 40 years.’”
Rawhi Fattouh also serves as Fatah Commissioner of International Relations
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.
Zakariya Zubeidi - Palestinian terrorist and head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks. Zubeidi was taken off Israel's wanted list in 2007 on condition that he refrain from terror as part of a deal with the PA; he was subsequently given a position in the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs and made a Fatah Revolutionary Council member. Zubeidi was arrested by Israel on Feb. 27, 2019, for breaching the deal by committing several shooting attacks with an accomplice - East Jerusalem lawyer Tareq Barghut who worked in the PA Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs - near Beit El north of Ramallah on Nov. 7, 2018 and Jan. 5, 2019, and north of Jerusalem in late 2018; Zubeidi used a car issued to him by the PA in the attacks. Israel has put Zubeidi on trial for all of his past terror activity. Zubeidi escaped from Israel’s Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, together with 5 Islamic Jihad terrorist prisoners who shared a cell with him, by digging a tunnel out through the floor with a spoon.
Diya Zakariya Shaker Al-Agha "Al-Faluji" - Palestinian terrorist who beat Israeli citizen Amatzia Ben Haim to death with a shovel in Ganei Tal in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 11, 1992. Al-Agha is serving a life sentence.
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.
2021 Gilboa Prison escape – 6 Palestinian terrorist prisoners escaped from Israel's Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, by widening the hole of the shower drainpipe in the floor of their cell. One terrorist is from Fatah - Zakariya Zubeidi, and the other five are from Islamic Jihad - Ayham Kamamji, Muhammad Ardah, Mahmoud Ardah, Yaqub Qaderi, and Munadil Nafiyat. Four of the terrorists were recaptured after five days: Zubeidi, Ardah, Ardah, and Qaderi. Kamamji and Nafiyat were arrested in Jenin on Sept. 18, 2021 along with two accomplices. Zubeidi was head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks, and he also carried out shooting attacks in 2018-2019. Kamamji participated in the murder of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri on June 25, 2006, and planned to blow up a bus using an exploding car. Muhammad Ardah participated in initiating and executing a suicide bombing on bus no. 823 on Nov. 29, 2001, in which 3 people were murdered and many others were wounded. Mahmoud Ardah was involved in numerous attacks; the website of Islamic Jihad’s military wing defined him as the "commander" of the prison escape. Qaderi committed a shooting attack on Sept. 18, 2002 with an accomplice in which Israeli Yosef Ajami was murdered and a foreign worker was wounded. Nafiyat was being held in administrative detention.