One of the longest serving Palestinian prisoners in Israel went free Thursday after completing a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier.
Karim Younis was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived home in the northern village of Ara.
“It was 40 years full of stories, prisoners’ stories and each story is a story of a nation,” Younis said. “I am very proud to be one of those who made sacrifices for Palestine and we were ready to sacrifice more for the sake of the cause of Palestine.”
Younis was convicted of killing soldier Avraham Bromberg in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in 1983.
Ahead of his release, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri wrote in a letter that Younis should be stripped of his citizenship, saying the move would be “an important message for those who have become symbols for their terrorist acts.”
Also Thursday, Palestinian officials said Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s military said soldiers returned fire after gunmen fired on them during an operation to arrest two people.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
