Israel rearrests Palestinian released in prisoner swap 34 years ago

The Israeli occupation authorities have rearrested a Palestinian man who was released in a prisoner swap 34 years ago, local media reported on Monday. Yousef Abul-Khair, 74, was detained as he was going back to his birthplace in the city of Akka (Acre). According to Ynet News, he was originally arrested and convicted of “serious security offences and released in the framework of the Jibril deal in 1983.”

Abul-Khair was sentenced to four life sentence and spent 14 years in prison before he was released. “[He] will return to complete the full prison sentence imposed on him,” said Ynet News.

The Head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Union in Israel, Muneer Mansour, told Quds Press that the government revoked Abul-Khair’s Israeli ID after his release, so he moved to Greece. Two years ago, he started to take steps to return to his birthplace and the Israeli authorities granted him permission to do so.

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Ynet News said that he returned to Israel two weeks ago and “was immediately arrested and brought before the parole board,” which accepted a request to “cancel his release and to force him to immediately serve the life sentence imposed by the military court.” Mansour protested that resentencing Abul-Khair is “illegal” because he was released in a formally-recognised prisoner swap.

The pensioner is suffering from a number of diseases, added Mansour, and had heart surgery a month ago.