GAZA CITY, 3 June 2005 — Israel freed some 400 Palestinian prisoners yesterday but at the same time announced plans to build 22 more homes in its largest West Bank settlement. A week ago, US President George W. Bush urged Tel Aviv to stop expanding Jewish enclaves on occupied land.
Hundreds of freed Palestinians were welcomed as heroes by friends and relatives after being bussed to drop-off points near the West Bank cities of Hebron, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Jenin. Another 20 were released at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza.
At Beitunia, east of Ramallah, overjoyed relatives and well-wishers welcomed 77 prisoners, waving flags and holding up pictures of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The crowd burst into patriotic songs lauding Arafat, who died last November, and the more than 6,000 Palestinians who remain in Israeli custody.
Dozens of former detainees then paid their respects at Arafat’s grave in the Palestinian leadership compound in Ramallah.
“The joy I feel is tinged with sadness for the prisoners we have left behind in greater suffering than those in Guantanamo,” said Majid Barghouti, who was freed 80 days before his 16-month sentence was due to expire.
At the Taybeh checkpoint near Tulkarm, detainees thrust arms out of bus windows flashing the victory sign before kissing the ground.
“Prison is a graveyard of the living. The Palestinian Authority has to do everything possible to get all the prisoners released,” said 41-year-old Mussa Qoraan, who served five years of a nine-year sentence.
The Prisoners Club, the main Palestinian detainee rights group, said 209 — more than half of those freed — had less than 12 months left to serve.
Approving the releases, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said they were to “strengthen the moderate elements within the Palestinian Authority” and respect commitments made at a February peace summit to free 900 prisoners. In all, the army said 398 prisoners were freed yesterday, given that two Palestinians lined up for release refused to leave for undisclosed reasons.
But Israel refuses to free anyone with “blood on their hands,” leaving Palestinians pressing angrily for the release of long-term detainees. “All prisoners should be freed. The prisoners’ issue is at the top of Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the government’s agenda,” said top official Tayeb Abdelrahim.
“We support any release of Palestinian detainees, but this is not enough,” echoed senior Hamas official, Hassan Yussef, pointing out that a cease-fire in place since January was conditioned on all detainees being freed.
Meanwhile, the Israel Lands Administration, a government agency, published a tender inviting bids for the purchase of 22 plots for the construction of single-family homes in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem.
Last week Bush repeated a call on Israel to halt expansion of settlements in keeping with the US-backed road map envisaging a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Sharon intends to dismantle Jewish enclaves in Gaza in August, but has made clear he intends to hold onto large swathes of the West Bank, including the three large settlement blocs of Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel.
He has also said Israel has no plans for any imminent territorial moves after its planned “disengagement” from Gaza and the northern fringe of the West Bank starting in August.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called on Washington and the international community to intervene to stop the construction of the new housing units.
— Additional input from agencies
