The oldest Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail was launched on Monday after serving a 17-year sentence for arms smuggling, an advocacy group and his son stated.
Fuad Shubaki, 83, was launched from Ashkelon jail and is “on his method to Ramallah” within the occupied West Financial institution, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoner’s Membership stated, which was confirmed by Shubaki’s son Hazem.
As Shubaki arrived in Ramallah on the tomb of the late Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat, to whom he was an in depth ally, Palestinian officers jostled to get near the octogenarian draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh.
Younger youngsters waved the flag of the Fatah motion, whereas ladies proudly sported t-shirts with the face of a younger Shubaki printed on them.
Among the many crowd was Mahmoud Aloul, vice chairman of the Fatah motion, and Tawfiq Tirawi — two figures usually described as doable successors to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
After praying at Arafat’s tomb, Shubaki vowed to proceed the “resistance” of the late Palestinian chief.
“We’ll go on the trail Yasser Arafat drew for us, we’ll keep it up his resistance it doesn’t matter what it prices, our lives are nugatory with regards to our homeland, our folks and people who have been martyred alongside the way in which,” he stated.
Shubaki, a senior member of the Fatah motion, was arrested by Palestinian safety forces in 2002 on the peak of the second intifada, or rebellion.
He was accused of trying to smuggle weapons from Iran to the coastal enclave of Gaza aboard the Karine A ship, which was seized by Israel within the Pink Sea.
The Israeli navy claimed the ship was carrying 50 tonnes of weapons, together with short-range Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives from Iran and the Lebanon-based Shiite motion Hezbollah.
He was held by the Palestinian Authority within the West Financial institution city of Jericho underneath US and British supervision.
In 2006, the jail was stormed by Israeli forces and Shubaki was taken to Israel, have been he was tried in a navy court docket.
He was sentenced to twenty years in jail, which was later lowered to 17 years.
