80-Year-Old Palestinian Prisoner Slams Fatah, PLO

General Fuad Al-Shobaki, 80, is the oldest Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail. (Photo: File)

Palestinian prisoner General Fuad Al-Shobaki has slammed members of PLO’s Central and Executive Committees as well as members of Fatah’s Military and Revolutionary Councils for ignoring the issue of prisoners being held in Israeli jails, the Shehab News Agency reported today.

In a letter leaked from his cell, Al-Shobaki wrote:

“I am addressing you personally and as humans, asking if you still have a conscience… Days, months and years proved that you lost your conscience.”

“I am addressing you because I am the son of this country and it is my right to have you standing beside me,” he wrote, stating that he is “stubborn” and has not disclosed “any piece of information” about them to investigators.

“Now, I am over 80 years and I have only some days left of life,” he wrote. “So I would like to remind you that I have sacrificed myself for this country, which has been under the occupation, and I chose the country over my family.”

“Today,” he continued, “I feel sad that you do not even mention my name in your meetings. Is there anyone from the leadership who is asking about me or calling on popular or international movements to release me?”

Concluding his letter, Al-Shobaki wrote:

“I am not begging you, but I am telling you that you have failed me and so you are failing the country in order to maintain your temporary gains. I am telling you that I am the next prisoner martyr … Shame on you to be sitting on chairs that you do not deserve.”

Al-Shobaki is the oldest Palestinian prisoner being held in Israeli jails. He was a senior military general in the Palestinian Authority, as well as a senior Fatah leader and acted as the financial consultant of late Fatah, PLO and PA President Yasser Arafat.

In 2002, he was arrested by the PA and sent to the notorious Jericho Prison and was kept there under British and American observation, Shehab said. He was investigated over claims of financing a weapons ship called “Karen A” which had been seized by Israel.

Israeli occupation forces arrested him from the PA’s prison in March 2006 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He has been held in Askalan and Hadarim Prisons.

(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)

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