MIDDLE EAST: The family of a Palestinian prisoner happily prepares for his homecoming, while a mother of an Israeli victim says compromises must be made for peace

Record ID: 836589

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: The family of a Palestinian prisoner happily prepares for his homecoming, while a mother of an Israeli victim says compromises must be made for peace
  • Date: 13th August 2013
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (AUGUST 13, 2013) (REUTERS) SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE PARENTS CIRCLE FAMILIES FORUM, ROBI DAMELIN, WALKING TOWARDS PHOTO OF HER SON DAVID, WHO WAS KILLED BY A SNIPER PHOTOGRAPH OF DAVID DAMELIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE PARENTS CIRCLE FAMILIES FORUM, ROBI DAMELIN, SAYING: "It's not a question of being pro or against. The question is very pragmatic. We have to understand what the Palestinian prisoners mean to the Palestinian people. And until we recognise the fact that they, for the Palestinian people, are just as important, as land, or say, east Jerusalem, or refugees. And so, these are the needs." PHOTOGRAPH OF DAVID DAMELIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE PARENTS CIRCLE FAMILIES FORUM, ROBI DAMELIN, SAYING: "In a peace agreement, I'm afraid that the people who will be hurt very much are people like me who lost their children. But we have to pay this price for peace. And we have to recognise the needs of the other. You can get very emotional and very cross, but that's not going to help in the long run." JERUSALEM (AUGUST 13, 2013) (REUTERS) CHAIRMAN OF ALMAGOR TERROR VICTIMS ORGANIZATION, MEIR INDOR, TALKING TO COMPANION ALMAGOR LOOKING AT LIST OF PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF ALMAGOR TERROR VICTIMS ORGANIZATION, MEIR INDOR, SAYING "We feel very sorry. It's a victory for the terror organisation in Israel, in the region too. It's a victory for people who are achieving political, achieving by violence. And the courts should send a message to the world. The principle of law, the court didn't do it today." ISRAELI FLAGS EXTERIOR OF SUPREME COURT
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8AK5MEKN3L970WXZ9ITUCJ4IG
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The family of cousins Mohamed and Hosni Sawalha, imprisoned for a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in 1990, have been awaiting their homecoming for more than two decades.
    In Azmoot village near Nablus in the West Bank, family members were busy cleaning and preparing their house, where Palestinian flags were displayed.

    "This happiness, we have been waiting for, for 23 years for Hosni to be released and to sit in our midst," said Hosni's brother, Ahem. "We have prepared a party for him and we hope to God we will get him married within a month or two and we will be happy for him."
    Mohamed and Hosni are two of 26 prisoners due to be released this week, as the first batch among a total of 104 that Israel has agreed to free in four stages.

    "My feeling is indescribable," Hosni's mother said. "Twenty-four years we have been waiting for this moment, we are so happy for this moment to finally come. We hope all the families will be happy like how we are now happy."
    The release of the prisoners, regarded as heroes by Palestinians and jailed as murderers by Israel between 1985 and 1994, was announced late on Sunday (August 11).
    Robi Damelin, a spokeswoman for the Parents Circle Families Forum, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation of families that have lost relatives in the decades-long conflict, said the release of prisoners is crucial for peace.

    "It's not a question of being pro or against," Damelin said. "The question is very pragmatic. We have to understand what the Palestinian prisoners mean to the Palestinian people. And until we recognise the fact that they, for the Palestinian people, are just as important, as land, or say, east Jerusalem, or refugees. And so, these are the needs."
    Her son David, an army reservist, was killed when a Palestinian opened fire at a roadblock near Ofra 11 years ago. Ten people, including civilians, died in the attack.
    Damelin wants a reconciliation process between Israeli and Palestinian families.

    "In a peace agreement, I'm afraid that the people who will be hurt very much are people like me who lost their children," she said. "But we have to pay this price for peace. And we have to recognise the needs of the other. You can get very emotional and very cross, but that's not going to help in the long run."
    In Israel, victims' relatives asked Jerusalem's High Court to block the prisoner release, which could begin as early as Tuesday evening (August 13).
    The three-justice panel ruled the government had been within its purview to free the long-serving inmates.
    An organisation fighting for justice for victims of attacks condemned the court decision.

    "We feel very sorry," said Meir Indor, Chairman of the Almagor Terror Victims Organization. "It's a victory for the terror organisation in Israel, in the region too. It's a victory for people who are achieving political, achieving by violence. And the courts should send a message to the world. The principle of law, the court didn't do it today."
    Indor said they were looking for legal remedies to block the release of three prisoners, who were jailed for attacks done after the Oslo peace accords of 1993.
    Fourteen of those going free will be deported or sent to the Gaza Strip, and 12 to the West Bank.
    Two would have completed their terms in six months, and six over the next three years.
    Israel has a number of times freed Palestinians before they served out their time, but mostly in swaps for Israeli soldiers or their remains held by its enemies.
    U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Palestinians, which opened in Washington on July 30, are due to resume on Wednesday (August 14) in Jerusalem, with further negotiations expected later in the occupied West Bank.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register