Israeli authorities on Tuesday released the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Duweik, following a year in administrative detention.
The Ahrar Center for Prisoners and Human Rights Studies said that Duweik, 67, was released from the Ofer prison near Ramallah after paying a fine of 6,000 shekels ($1,565).
Duweik, who is a member of Hamas, was detained from his home in Hebron during a massive arrest campaign in June 2014, known as “Operation Brother’s Keeper,” which was carried out in search of the three kidnapped teenagers, Hy”d.
During the campaign, which lasted until June 30 when their bodies were found, Israel arrested hundreds of Palestinians, most of them members of Hamas, including leaders and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Palestine’s parliament.
Elected Speaker of the PLC in 2006, Duweik had previously been arrested by Israel three separate times between 2006 and 2014.
During a stint in prison in 2008, the imprisoned leader praised efforts by Fatah and Hamas toward forming a unity government, saying: “The honest support for a national unity government — with all its contents — will spare great effort on all sides.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
