KUBAR: Palestinian Iman Nafeh had been eagerly awaiting her husband’s return ever since she heard he would be released from prison as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. But her joy was cut short when she learned he would be expelled from the Palestinian territories immediately after he was freed.

After spending 44 years behind bars in Israeli custody, 34 of them consecutively, Nael Barghouthi holds the rec­o­­rd for the lengthiest detention among Palestin­ians, acco­rding to advocacy group the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

Nafeh’s home in the village of Kubar, in the occupied West Bank, is decorated with photos of Barghouthi — some old, some recent, all taken during his decades of detention. “Imagine a person who has spent 44 years in prison, and now they’re imposing a new punishment on him: exile,” Nafeh said.

Nael Barghouthi was arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer

Barghouthi was arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer and attacks on Israeli sites. At the time, he was a member of Fatah, the movement of current Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and a rival of Hamas.

Expulsion ‘unacceptable’

After more than 15 months of conflict in the Gaza Strip and a protracted, halting negotiation process, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas finally went into effect on Sunday.

In the first phase of the deal, Hamas is expected to release 33 Israeli prisoners — 31 of whom were taken during the group’s October 7, 2023 raid — in exchange for around 1,900 detained Palestinians.

Of those, more than 230 are serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, and will be permanently exp­elled from the Palestinian territories upon their release, according to a list made public by Israeli authorities.

Two Hamas officials have said they will be deported mainly to Qatar or Turkiye. “This decision is unacceptable to us,” said Nafeh. “I’m convinced that he (Barghouthi) will refuse it, and that he would prefer to remain in prison rather than be expelled.” Barghouthi was released once before, in 2011, as part of an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in return for an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas. He was arrested again in 2014, and defected from Fatah to join Hamas in prison.

‘Waiting for him’

Nafeh was herself arrested last year and held for three months in administrative detention — but she was by no means a stranger to Israeli prisons. She was arrested in 1987 for “resisting the occupation”, she said, and spent 10 years in prison.

It was then that Barghouthi first saw her, on television from his cell, and decided to marry her. “I didn’t know about that yet. After my release in 1997, his family came to ask me to marry him, but for personal reasons, it didn’t happen,” Nafeh said.

“I hadn’t met him before. We met when he was relea­sed in 2011. One month after he got out, we were marri­ed, but we only lived together for 32 months.” Nafeh recalls her wedding as an “expression of hope” for Pales­tinians. “It was a national wedding,” she said. “Everyone was hap­­py for us.” Following his 2011 release, Barghouthi had been placed under house arrest, where he tended to orange and olive trees he planted in their garden in Kubar.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2025