Dean of Palestinian and Arab prisoners, member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement, fighter Karim Younis (66) was released at dawn on Thursday after four decades of imprisonment in Israeli occupation prisons. The occupying authorities deliberately released the Younis fighter at dawn and left him alone in the town of Ra’anana, near Tel Aviv, without informing his family, in an attempt to spoil their joy and disrupt his reception. According to the Wafa news agency, upon arrival in his hometown, editor Yunus visited the mother’s house of his fellow captives Maher Younis, and then went to visit the graves of his parents, who died while he was in captivity. Karim hugged the grave of his father, who died 10 years ago and was forbidden to see him for more than 17 years, and also wept bitterly in front of the grave of his mother, Subhia Younes, who died only 8 months ago and is looking forward to his release. Karim Younis said in front of the cemetery: “My mother was an ambassador for all prisoners of freedom. My mother endured more than she could, but after a long wait, she decided to see me from heaven.” He added: “Our entire people deserve all the respect of the world … and our families call for national unity, because this is the law of victory.” He continued: “We are ready to offer another 40 years for the freedom of our people, and this determination and commitment is present in all prisoners.”
Immediately after the news of the release of prisoner Karim Younes, large crowds of people from Palestinian cities in 48 territories gathered at his family’s home to take part in the celebration of his release. The story of Karim Younes began on the morning of January 6, 1983, when a special unit associated with the occupation broke into the engineering laboratory of Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, whose members were standing at the door to make sure he was inside. And in a lab where two Palestinian students, Karim Younes and Riyad Mahamid, were experimenting with one of the inventions, they were asked: Which one of you is generous? So Karim left what he had in his hand and moved towards the special forces, leaving behind two pencils and ink and his university bag on the study table, and from that day on Karim did not return home.
