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Ex-prisoner demands higher rank and salary from Abbas

Al-Quds, Palestinian daily  |
Headline: “Palestinian fighter entreats the president [Abbas] to give him his due”

“Citizen Jamal Al-Huzaibi, a past prisoner sentenced to life, expelled, and suffering from limited mobility and speech problems since 1983, entreated President Mahmoud Abbas to implement his decision to give him the rank of brigadier general, his due according to Palestinian law. It should be noted that Al-Huzaibi was arrested in 1983 after carrying out a military operation (i.e., terror attack) which led to the death of an Israeli settler, and Al-Huzaibi was sentenced to life imprisonment.

He was injured in the same operation after stepping on an Israeli mine, and was in a coma for five months in one of the Israeli hospitals. After a number of years, he was expelled from Palestine after being released in a prisoner exchange in 1985 (i.e., the Jibril Exchange). In 1986, he received the rank of second lieutenant, which he has held for the last 30 years, despite the fact that according to the law he is entitled to a promotion in rank, and should already have the rank of brigadier general.
Al-Huzaibi, who financially supports many children, suffers from a permanent disability which has completely paralyzed him, and said in his entreaty: ‘O honored President [Abbas], I completely fulfilled my national duty, and did not receive my moral and material right to rank and salary. Although you have treated me justly, the decision issued by you has not been implemented by the PLO’s military administration organization.’

Member of Fatah’s Bethlehem branch Muhammad Al-Ja'afari said that the movement demanded repeatedly that the fighter Al-Huzaibi be given his due, and that the time has come to act to implement the president’s decision and put it into effect.”

The Jibril Exchange was a deal between the Israeli government and the terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP- GC), led by Ahmed Jibril. On May 21, 1985, Israel released 1,150 Palestinian prisoners, including terrorist murderers, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers who had been taken hostage by the PFLP.

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