He spent 44 years in Israeli prisons. The joy dissipated for the wife of the oldest Palestinian prisoner

Iman Nafi’s joy over the release of her husband, Nael Barghouti, from an Israeli prison within the framework of the truce agreement that began to be implemented on Sunday was dashed when she learned that his name was included among those who would be deported from the Palestinian territories.

Barghouti (68 years old) spent nearly 44 years in Israeli prisons, including 34 continuous years. He was re-arrested in 2014 after being released in a previous exchange deal between Israel and Hamas in 2011, making him the detainee who spent the largest number of years in prison. Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

The day she read his name on the list published by Israel, which included hundreds of names of Palestinian detainees who would be released in the first phase of implementing the agreement in exchange for 33 hostages who were kidnapped on October 7, 2023 from Israel to the Gaza Strip, Iman Nafi felt “great joy.”

She spent days awaiting this announcement, redecorating the house, hanging pictures of her husband here and there, some of them when he was eighteen years old, others when he was in his sixties, and all of them while he was in prison.
But her enthusiasm dissipated when it became clear to her that her husband would be among those deported from the Palestinian territories, according to the Israeli list.

She told Agence France-Presse, “Of course, I was very sad, because I was impatiently waiting, and I did not expect Nael to be subjected to a new punishment by being deported from his homeland and his land. I think this is the harshest punishment in history.”
But she adds that the deportation decision is “rejected by us. I am sure that Nael will reject it, and will prefer to remain in prison rather than get out.”

She continues, “Imagine a person who spent 44 years in prison, and a new punishment is imposed on him by deporting him from his family, his country, his homeland, and the place in which he lived.”

The truce agreement, which took effect on Sunday after more than 15 months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, stipulates that Israel, in the first phase of implementing the agreement, will release approximately 1,900 Palestinian detainees from its prisons in exchange for the 33 hostages.

Nael Barghouti’s name is on the list, and he is sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of killing an Israeli officer and carrying out attacks on Israeli sites.

The list includes the names of more than 230 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment who will be released and deported permanently.

On Sunday, three Israeli women who were detained in the Gaza Strip were released in exchange for ninety Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, the majority of whom are women and children. The releases for the first phase of the agreement are expected to be completed within the next six weeks.

– Exit and then imprisonment
Nael Barghouti was arrested in 1978, and at that time he belonged to the Fatah movement.

He was released in a 2011 exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, which included the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was being held by Hamas, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinians.

When he was re-arrested in 2014 on charges of incitement, his previous life sentence was resumed, according to his wife.

Palestinian institutions say that among the Palestinian detainees who will be released under the current deal, 47 were released in what was known as the 2011 Shalit deal, before they were rearrested.

In prison, Nael Barghouti’s loyalty moved from Fatah to Hamas.

Iman Nafi, in turn, was arrested last year for three months, as part of an arrest campaign in the West Bank against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip, and this was not the first time she had been imprisoned.

– Marriage after prison!
She recounts that she was arrested in 1987 in the midst of the Palestinian Intifada, “on charges of resisting the occupation,” as she says, and remained in prison for ten years.

That day, Nael Barghouti saw her from prison on Israeli television, so he decided to marry her upon his release.

She says, “I didn’t even know about it. After I was released in 1997, he sent his family to ask me, but due to special circumstances, that did not happen.”

She continued, “I had not seen Nael before. We met when he was released in 2011. A month after his release, the marriage took place… but we only lived together for 32 months, when he was arrested again.”

Nafie recounts, “The day of our marriage, it was a national wedding. Everyone was happy for us. It was an expression of hope for meeting and freedom.”
After his release, Israel imposed house arrest on Barghouti in his hometown of Kober, north of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. During that period, he was taking care of his home garden, in which he planted orange and olive trees. Nafie says she is waiting for him “to eat the fruit of the trees he planted.”

Then she added, “He is 68 years old. This is the greatest injustice.”