RAMALLAH, West Bank: Israel yesterday released 227 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinian sources said that 17 prisoners were released at the Erez crossing into Gaza, while 210 were freed at the Bitounia checkpoint near Ramallah.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised to free the prisoners in early December ahead of Eid Al-Adha. Israeli authorities did not give a reason for the delay.
The release came hours after Israeli forces arrested 17 Palestinians and a former Hamas minister surrendered.
Families sang and danced as buses full of newly freed men, shouting and waving from the windows, drove into Ramallah and mothers wept as they embraced their sons.
Abbas greeted them individually with kisses on the cheeks at his office in Ramallah, but said Israel should release all Palestinians it was holding. “Our happiness will not be complete until all of the 11,000 prisoners are freed,” he said. “We promise you we will work to free all prisoners from all factions.” The president said that pledge included members of Hamas, which drove his Fatah faction out of the Gaza Strip last year and now controls the territory.
“We hope these releases will be seen as an important confidence-building measure designed to strengthen the trust and the confidence in the (peace) negotiations,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert. Israel has released about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners since last year, including 200 in August, Regev said. He did not say how many more had been arrested in the same period. He confirmed that no Hamas members were freed yesterday.
Even as the men were released, Israeli forces arrested 17 Palestinians in several West Bank towns. Israeli sources said the detainees were wanted men and had been taken to different locations for interrogation.
Separately, former Hamas Finance Minister Omar Abdulrazeq surrendered to Israeli prison authorities to serve a five-month jail term. He was arrested in June 2006 for being a member of Hamas with dozens of fellow parliamentarians following the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. A military court sentenced Abdulrazeq to 26 months in jail before releasing him after he spent five months and a week. A court ordered Abdulrazeq to serve an additional five months and pay a fine of 30,000 shekel after Israeli intelligence appealed his release.
“This is our destiny. As long as the occupation continues, suffering will continue,” Abdulrazeq said before entering Ofer prison, near Ramallah.
