GAZA CITY, 25 July 2003 — Palestinians called for the United States to use its influence to persuade Israel to release more of their prisoners as Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas began a landmark trip to Washington yesterday.
The prisoners issue was likely to be a main topic at talks between Abbas and US President George W. Bush at the White House today, with the Israelis and Palestinians still poles apart over the numbers that should be freed.
Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Minister Hisham Abdelrazeq said Abbas would urge Washington to persuade Israel to first agree in principle to the release of all the estimated 6,000 Palestinian prisoners and then drawing up a schedule for their release.
“If America succeeds, there will be progress in the peace process but if they do not, the political process could be destroyed,” the minister said.
Abdelrazeq was speaking ahead of a rally in Gaza City where about 500 members of radical factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as Abbas’ Fatah, called for the release of all of their members held in Israeli jails.
They gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza where they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners without preconditions.
Some demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as: “Freedom for all prisoners” and “No conditions on releases”, while others burnt an Israeli flag.
Abbas’ arrival in Washington came as Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was also fending off US criticism over the building of a controversial security fence between Israel and the West Bank.
“A misunderstanding is developing with the Americans on this fence because of ignorance of the specifics of this project,” Shalom told Israeli military radio from Washington, after talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The meeting was designed to prepare for July 29 talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Bush.
A fatal shooting by an Israeli border guard of a Bedouin in southern Israel yesterday also inflamed sentiment on the ground.
Dozens of Bedouins threw stones at policemen near the scene of the incident in the Negev desert, accusing officers of being “trigger-happy” when it comes to Israeli Arabs.
“According to preliminary findings, the driver refused to stop at a roadblock and was killed by a bullet which a border guard fired,” police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
Meanwhile Israeli troops captured a senior Islamic Jihad leader near the West Bank town of Jenin, said an official from the group. The arrest of Ahmad Shabani could prompt Islamic Jihad to reconsider the truce, said Bassam Al-Saadi, a senior leader for the movement in the West Bank.
