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All choices have consequences. [IsraelTimes] Senior Fatah members Mahmoud al-Aloul, Azzam al-Ahmad, and Rawhi Fattouh had joined celebrations at home of Karim Younis in northern Israeli town of ’Ara on Saturday
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday said he was revoking the entry permits to Israel of three senior Paleostinian Authority officials, after the trio paid a visit to a newly released prisoner who was held for murdering a soldier.
Karim Younis, the longest-serving prisoner incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
for security-related offenses, was freed from prison Thursday after serving 40 years behind bars following his conviction on terrorism charges for murdering an Israeli soldier in 1980.
Since his release, celebrations have been held at his hometown of ’Ara in northern Israel. Younis is part of Israel’s Arab minority, many of whom identify as Paleostinians.
On Saturday, the three members of the PA’s ruling Fatah party — Mahmoud al-Aloul, Azzam al-Ahmad, and Rawhi Fattouh — visited Younis, entering Israel with their valid permits given to senior Paleostinian officials. Former Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh, who directs the National Arab Higher Follow-Up Committee, was also spotted at the gathering.
The Defense Ministry said Gallant ordered the head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) — the Defense Ministry body responsible for Paleostinian civil affairs — Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, to revoke their permits following the visit.
Gallant’s decision was made following an assessment he held with the Shin Bet security agency and other officials, according to the ministry.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has an additional role as a minister within the Defense Ministry, hailed Gallant’s "right and necessary decision" in a post on Twitter.
Smotrich’s role in the Defense Ministry ostensibly allows him to appoint the generals leading the hybrid civil-military COGAT and its office overseeing many settlement issues, the Civil Administration, subject to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval.
Smotrich has not yet made any decisions with his secondary ministerial position, and the Knesset’s legal adviser said last month that Gallant would still be able to overrule him.
Cousins Maher and Karim Younis, both from ’Ara, murdered Cpl. Avraham Bromberg in 1980. The assailants offered the soldier a ride as he was heading home from his army base in the Golan Heights, then overpowered him, shot him in the head, and stole his weapon. They left him on the side of a road where he was found and brought to a hospital, but he died days later. The killers were arrested two years later and sentenced in 1983.
Maher is due to be released in two weeks. Both and his cousin were given life sentences but these were commuted in 2012 by then-president Shimon Peres to 40 years. 
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