Palestinian political prisoner to be freed

The longest-held Palestinian prisoner, Kareem Younes, age 66, is scheduled to be released following 40 years in the Zionist prisons of the occupation. He wrote a letter to his people Jan. 2, 2023, while awaiting his freedom:

I will leave my cell after a few days, and I am overwhelmed by the dread of going into a world unlike my own. Here I am approaching a moment in which I must pass through my old wounds and my old memories, a moment in which I can smile in the face of my old image, without feeling remorse or let down and without having to prove the obvious that I have lived through for 40 years.

Publicly, I can adapt to my new view, and I am returning to sing with my people everywhere the anthem of my country, Fida’i, the anthem of return and liberation.

I will leave my cell stressing that we were and still are proud of our people — wherever they are in the homeland and in the diaspora — who embraced us, embraced our cause over all those years and were loyal to our cause and the cause of our people. This gives us renewed hope and an unwavering certainty in the justice of our cause, the sincerity of our belonging and the feasibility and essence of our struggle.

I will leave my cell, raising my hat to a generation that is undoubtedly not like my generation: a generation of young men and women activists who have been the leaders and at the forefront of the scene in recent years.

This is a generation that is clear that they are stronger, more daring, more brave and more deserving of receiving the flag. How can they not, when they are the ones who have memorized every story and novel [of the martyred] and are eager to implement their wills, the wills of our dispersed and displaced people, by wresting their right to return and self-determination. Blessed is this rising generation despite the breathless atmosphere.