- Title: VARIOUS: ISRAEL FREES FOUR HUNDRED PALESTINIAN PRISONERS AHEAD OF SUMMIT
- Date: 3rd June 2005
- Summary: (W2) TARKUMIYA CHECKPOINT, BETWEEN ISRAEL AND WEST BANK (JUNE 02, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV BUSES CARRYING PALESTINIAN PRISONERS ARRIVING AT CHECKPOINT 0.22 2. WIDE PRISONERS FLASHING VICTORY SIGNS AND WAVING PALESTINIAN FLAGS WHILE ON BUS 0.48 3. SLV PRISONERS LEAVING BUSES AND KISSING GROUND 1.21 4. SLV PRISONERS FLASHING VICTORY SIG
- Embargoed: 18th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TARKUMIYA CHECKPOINT, BETWEEN ISRAEL AND WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVACJBLY62AKVMKNOFC345LEDMQJ
- Story Text: Israel frees 400 Palestinian prisoners ahead of
summit, but Palestinians say gesture is not enough to
advance peacemaking
Israel freed 400 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday
(June 2, 2005) in a long-delayed gesture it said was meant to
bolster moderate President Mahmoud Abbas but which some
Palestinians said was not enough to advance peacemaking.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon acted under U.S.
pressure to help strengthen Abbas, who faces a Hamas
challenge that could undermine Israel's plans for evacuating Jewish
settlements in the Gaza Strip starting in August.
Smiling prisoners flashed V-for-victory signs to
cheering relatives as they stepped down from buses at the
Tarkumiya checkpoint between Israel and the West Bank.
The release followed an announcement on Wednesday (June
1) of a second summit between the two leaders planned for
June 21 aimed at boosting deadlocked peace moves.
A first batch of 500 prisoners was freed on February
21, but the promised release of 400 more was suspended
after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis in a suicide
bombing on Febuary 25.
Sharon has said Thursday's release was meant to boost
Abbas, who was elected in January to succeed Yasser Arafat
and has coaxed armed factions into a fragile truce that has
sharply reduced violence.
Israel wants Abbas to keep militants reined in during
the Gaza pullout, which international mediators hope will
serve as a springboard for new peace talks under a
U.S.-backed "roadmap".
The freeing of the prisoners also comes before
Palestinian parliamentary elections tentatively set for
July in which Abbas' ruling Fatah party will face strong
competition from Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to
Israel's destruction.
Israel's cabinet gave the green light for Thursday's
release under prodding from the United States following the
U.S. President's meeting with Abbas in Washington last
week.
"It is a difficult decision for Israel to release
people who have been tried and guilty of crimes against
Israeli citizens, but we understand that the issue is an
important issue for the Palestinian people and we want to
show and demonstrate clearly that there are tangible
benefits for continuing in a process of dialogue and
reconciliation," said Mark Regev, spokesman at the Israeli
Foreign Ministry.
"We want to strengthen those Palestinian moderates,
those leaders who want dialogue and are against terrorism
and we hope that the Palestinian leadership will move
forward with us in a process of peaceful reconciliation,"
Regev said.
But many Palestinians dismissed the prisoner release as
a publicity stunt and said Abbas needs more prisoners freed
to preserve a shaky ceasefire deal with militants that has
sharply reduced the violence of a 4-1/2 year uprising.
"There is a double standard in the release process
because more than 90 percent of the prisoners are the
prisoners of Hamas who have less than one year left before
their release, therefore, the Zionist enemy until this
moment is playing around with the implementation of the
desires and demands of the ceasefire and then they (Israel)
will be responsible for the collapse of the ceasefire,"
said Mushir Al Masri, a spokesman for the powerful
Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Prisoners are an emotive issue for many Palestinians
who see the roughly 8,000 Palestinians held in Israeli
jails as heroes fighting occupation in the West Bank and
Gaza, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East
War.
None of those freed on Thursday had been convicted of
attacks that killed or injured Israelis. Many were in jail
for belonging to militant groups, possessing weapons or
plotting attacks.
Still, Israelis hurt by militants or related to
Israelis killed in recent attacks tried to block the
release in a last-minute appeal to the nation's high court,
which later rejected the petition.
As the prisoner release was under way, Israeli security
forces announced the arrest of five Islamic Jihad militants
who they said were planning to carry out a double-suicide
bombing in Jerusalem on Thursday.
The Israeli media said that two of the five were
recently released from prison after serving time for their
involvement in the militant group which is sworn to
Israel's destruction.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None