200 Palesinian prisoners released by Israel
- added August 25, 2008
- 1 responses
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- DeliaTheArtist
- added this
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"Israel freed nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners, including the longest-serving inmate, in a gesture aimed at bolstering the moderate Palestinian leadership just hours before Condoleezza Rice arrived in the region.
In her 24-hour visit, the US Secretary of State will try to silence recent doubts voiced by senior Palestinian and Israeli leadership over the likelihood of a US-sponsored peace deal coming to fruition this year.
"We continue to have the same goal which is to reach agreement by the end of the year. (There is) a lot of work ahead to do that and obviously it's a complicated time, but it's always complicated out here," Ms Rice said upon her arrival.
Progress towards a peace deal has been hampered by violence, Israeli settlement expansion and uncertainty over the political futures of the Israeli and Palestinian leadership.
While the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continues to confront low poll ratings and the sustained popularity of the Islamist Hamas movement, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, will step down from office next month amid graft charges and one of the lowest public-approval ratings in Israeli political history.
An American official involved in the peace talks said that progress was made in today’s prison swap, in which Israel made the rare decision to release two men with “blood on their hands,” a term given to prisoners who participated in attacks that harmed Israelis.
One of those men, Said al-Attaba, 57, has been in jail 32 years. He was the longest-serving inmate held by Israel and is widely seen by Palestinians as a symbol of the 9,000 prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons.
Attba was convicted for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed one woman and wounded dozens others in central Israel. His father and several of his uncles have passed away since his incarceration, but his two sisters and brother were jubilant upon his return and insistent that he would yet have “a normal life.”
“We want him to get married first of all, and of course to have a job,” said Sena al-Attaba, 47, whose face was streaked in tears as she refused to unclasp hands with the brother she had not walked with since she was fifteen.
Israelis appeared divided over the prison release, which some feared would weaken Israel’s ability to negotiate for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for two years.
“It's not easy for Israel to release prisoners. Some of the individuals being released today are guilty of direct involvement in the murder of innocent civilians,” said Mark Regev, Israeli government spokesman.
Even among Palestinians, opinion was divided over how much credit such go to their own leadership, and how much to the Israelis.
“It’s possible that this will help [Abbas] politically. But I am not sure. It depends on what the Israelis demand in exchange. I am suspicious of any Israeli gesture and how it serves … there is always a price to pay we don’t always know it right away,” said Edwan Sadaka, a 37-year-old from nearby Ramallah."
In her 24-hour visit, the US Secretary of State will try to silence recent doubts voiced by senior Palestinian and Israeli leadership over the likelihood of a US-sponsored peace deal coming to fruition this year.
"We continue to have the same goal which is to reach agreement by the end of the year. (There is) a lot of work ahead to do that and obviously it's a complicated time, but it's always complicated out here," Ms Rice said upon her arrival.
Progress towards a peace deal has been hampered by violence, Israeli settlement expansion and uncertainty over the political futures of the Israeli and Palestinian leadership.
While the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continues to confront low poll ratings and the sustained popularity of the Islamist Hamas movement, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, will step down from office next month amid graft charges and one of the lowest public-approval ratings in Israeli political history.
An American official involved in the peace talks said that progress was made in today’s prison swap, in which Israel made the rare decision to release two men with “blood on their hands,” a term given to prisoners who participated in attacks that harmed Israelis.
One of those men, Said al-Attaba, 57, has been in jail 32 years. He was the longest-serving inmate held by Israel and is widely seen by Palestinians as a symbol of the 9,000 prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons.
Attba was convicted for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed one woman and wounded dozens others in central Israel. His father and several of his uncles have passed away since his incarceration, but his two sisters and brother were jubilant upon his return and insistent that he would yet have “a normal life.”
“We want him to get married first of all, and of course to have a job,” said Sena al-Attaba, 47, whose face was streaked in tears as she refused to unclasp hands with the brother she had not walked with since she was fifteen.
Israelis appeared divided over the prison release, which some feared would weaken Israel’s ability to negotiate for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for two years.
“It's not easy for Israel to release prisoners. Some of the individuals being released today are guilty of direct involvement in the murder of innocent civilians,” said Mark Regev, Israeli government spokesman.
Even among Palestinians, opinion was divided over how much credit such go to their own leadership, and how much to the Israelis.
“It’s possible that this will help [Abbas] politically. But I am not sure. It depends on what the Israelis demand in exchange. I am suspicious of any Israeli gesture and how it serves … there is always a price to pay we don’t always know it right away,” said Edwan Sadaka, a 37-year-old from nearby Ramallah."
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- DeliaTheArtist
- 3 months ago
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