Zakaria Zubeidi was imprisoned in 2019 after being discovered responsible by an Israeli army court docket of involvement in terrorism.
He was launched as a part of the ceasefire settlement and welcomed again to the West Financial institution by crowds of well-wishers, together with the person who was prime minister lower than a yr in the past.
Evaluation: Zubeidi an ‘extremist’ to Israel however inspiration to Palestine
Picture:
Zubeidi after being launched from an Israeli jail.
Pic: Reuters/Raneen Sawafta
“My life is worthless without freedom,” he stated, talking in Ramallah. “Freedom has no price. But the world that has denied me my freedom – particularly Britain, France, and the United States – must return what they have taken from me and my children.
“They’re those who must rethink their errors, not me.
“They are the ones who have wronged us, and they should think about rectifying the harm they have caused to me and my children.”
Zubeidi, whose mom, brother and son have all died because of Israeli army motion, has admitted involvement in a 2002 bombing that killed six individuals.
Nevertheless, he has additionally been acclaimed by many within the West Financial institution as an emblem of the resistance.
He was famously a part of a gaggle of prisoners who briefly escaped their Israeli jail after utilizing kitchen utensils to dig a tunnel.
“My message to the Palestinian people is to prioritise their safety and well-being because the assault being carried out against them is immense. I have no message for the occupation [Israel],” he stated.
“My message is to the world – the same world that granted the occupation the right to live on my land – to grant me my freedom.”
In frequent with many different launched prisoners, he claimed to have been overwhelmed whereas behind bars, saying: “The situation in Israeli prisons is extremely harsh. We’ve witnessed it all: severe beatings, attack dogs, relentless insults. Every form of abuse imaginable has been inflicted on the bodies of our prisoners.”
Whereas many in Israel will think about Zubeidi to be a harmful, murderous extremist, he’s thought-about a totemic determine within the West Financial institution, and a pure chief in Jenin, the place he grew up in a refugee camp.
After being launched, Israeli authorities banned him from returning to Jenin.
As a substitute, he has remained in Ramallah, the place an extended line of individuals got here to a faculty constructing to shake his hand and hug him.
Amongst them, former prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who resigned lower than a yr in the past.
“We would like to see all prisoners released and we would like to see all hostages going home,” stated Mr Shtayyeh.
He continued: “It’s a historic moment for everybody. It’s time for this bloodshed to stop. And I think it is a moment of truth for everybody.
“In Gaza, 60,000 individuals have been killed, greater than 120,000 have been injured. And naturally, there have been so many casualties in Israel, too.
“We know that. And this time Palestinians are desperate for peace. We want a genuine peace process that does really bring peace and justice for everybody.”
Greater than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, in response to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The offensive adopted Hamas’s assault on Israel on 7 October 2023, when it took 250 individuals hostage and killed round 1,200 others.
