Part of the prisoner exchange deal. Israel has imprisoned again dozens of ex- political prisoners released as part of it by using various excuses or none at all in some cases.

Israel accused Samer Issawi of being a member of DFLP - a small leftwing party (enjoys 3-4 percent support among Palestinians in the occupied territories), member of the Abbas' government, and no longer in US "terrorism" list - and having taken part in the second intifada in an armed attack against illegal settlers, in which no one was injured.

In the typical Israeli manner they had sentenced him for decades in jail for this act of opposing the occupation.

Baruch Goldstein, the illegal settler terrorist, murdered Samir's teenage brother and 28 other people in 1994. Goldstein is considered a great hero among large number of Jewish Israelis and his grave is a place of modern day pilgrimage.