It is ironic that currently the biggest obstacle in the way of advancing the Middle East road map is an issue not mentioned in the peace plan: That of Palestinian prisoners. The road map had been picking up momentum after the Palestinian truce announcement and the Israeli Army’s pullout from many parts of Gaza and the West Bank city of Bethlehem. But the process has since stumbled on the issue of the prisoners. Palestinians demand that Israel release all of the estimated 7,000 prisoners it holds, but Israel has agreed to release only a few hundred, and even then only as a goodwill gesture.
What the Palestinians fear most is a repetition of Israel’s tactics of keeping thousands of Palestinian prisoners as bargaining chips to extract political concessions. Such fears are reinforced by the Israeli government’s decision to adopt stringent criteria for releasing Palestinian detainees, which would effectively keep more than 90 percent of the prisoners behind bars. According to the Israeli criteria, all prisoners who have killed or injured Israelis would not be released. And it does not appear to matter whether the Israelis who were killed were killed in battle — that is fighting a people under occupation — or were attacking Palestinians at the time.
As far as Israel is concerned, all Palestinian fighters are “terrorists” and all Israelis killed are “victims of terror.” Moreover, prisoners affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine are also to be doomed for open-ended incarceration. Likewise, detainees whom Israel deems might revert to active resistance in the future and those who are still undergoing “legal” proceedings would not be freed.
No prisoner releases are likely before the next meeting between Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And probably, too, not before the two men visit Washington sometime this summer. Abbas has been criticized by some Palestinian officials and activists who accuse him of not being tough enough on the prisoner-release issue. But the issue has been one of Abbas’ top priorities, as it is one of the quickest and most tangible ways he can demonstrate to Palestinians that he is winning concessions in talks with Israel.
The issue is galvanizing the Palestinian public and infuriating resistance groups. Huge demonstrations have been held in West Bank cities calling for the release of the prisoners while the prisoners themselves have asked aloud what is to be their fate.
The issue of the prisoners could prove to be a deal-maker or breaker depending on how the Israeli government intends to handle it. It will be almost impossible to maintain the current cease-fire, let alone make genuine progress on the road map, if a satisfactory solution to the problem is not found.
