GAZA CITY, 17 July 2003 — At least 1,500 Palestinian children took to the streets here yesterday to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in a march organized by the radical movement Hamas. The children, in their teens and less, wearing green caps and headbands marked with the slogan, “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet,” waved large Hamas flags.
Some also carried handwritten cardboard signs in Arabic and English. “Father, I am waiting for you”, “Oh world, help Palestinian prisoners”, “I want my dad”, and “With tens of thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails, where is peace?” they read.
Other children carried framed photographs of their jailed brothers or fathers, mostly Hamas activists, as small groups brandished a poster of 14 top Hamas activists detained by Israel. Rights organizations estimate Israel currently detains about 6,000 Palestinians, most of them arrested since the September 2000 start of the intifada, or uprising.
Israel agreed last week to free 350 prisoners but ruled out the release of activists belonging to Hamas or its smaller rival Islamic Jihad. Palestinian Minister for Prisoners Affairs Hisham Abdelrazeq said Monday that Israel and the Palestinians had reached a stalemate over the release of prisoners and international intervention was needed to resolve the issue.
Yehia Daas, 12, said his father was serving a five-year sentence in Israel for his activities in Hamas. “I have seen him once in five years, we can only go every six months and the journey to Israel is very difficult with the closure,” he said.
But Muhammad Gandil, also 12, was not sure why he had joined the march. After one of the organizers reminded him with a smack on the shoulder that he was demonstrating in support of prisoners, the boy stuttered over a long, anti-Israeli diatribe.
“We must continue to kill Jews until our land is freed,” he said, as the procession marched from Unknown Soldier Square in downtown Gaza City to the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. “After the three-month truce is over, we will resume killing them because they want to kill us too and there is no other way,” he added in a defiant tone.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, meanwhile, urged Turkey to help persuade Israel to implement the road map for Middle East peace and contribute to reconstruction projects in the Palestinian territories. “Turkey will add a factor in persuading the Israelis to move ahead in implementing their share of the road map ... because of its particular importance in the area and its good relations with both Palestinians and Israelis,” Shaath said after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Ankara.
“The road map — though it is going to be difficult — opens the opportunity for a potentially successful return to diplomacy and reconstruction,” Shaath said. “We would like to see quick planning for Turkish-Palestinian cooperation in trade... We would like to see Turkish companies join in the process of reconstruction in Palestine,” he added.
Shaath said he and Gul had also discussed preparations for “a Turkish role in the international conference, which, according to the road map, should be made by the end of this year.”
Gul, for his part, said the Ankara government was determined to help “actively” in the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel. “Turkey is expanding great efforts to contribute to the Middle East peace process,” Gul said.
He added that Turkey could contribute toward legal work in drawing up a Palestinian constitution and in educational projects. Turkey has also frequently voiced its readiness to host talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
