Prisoners released but Palestinians still unsatisfied
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 10/15/1999

Despite the fact that more of their relatives were released by Israel on Friday, many Palestinians expressed dissatisfaction that approximately 1,620 more Palestinian prisoners are still incarcerated in Israeli jails and called on Israel to release all of them. There cannot be a permanent peace settlement with Israel if those prisoners are left behind bars, they said.

Hisham Abdul Razeq, Palestinian minister in charge of the prisoners portfolio said that one cannot conduct negotiations with commanders of the army and yet keep the soldiers in jail. "We were not playing chess with the Israelis throughout the years of the occupation. We killed Israelis and Israelis killed us. But we have opted for peace and we expect the other side to opt for peace too," he said Friday.

Palestine Legislative Council member Fares Qadura said the second round of releases was important because it included a group of prisoners whom Israel had in the past refused to release. He added, however, that the release of that group was not all that the Palestinians demanded though it constituted an important step towards releasing the rest of prisoners. He said the second group included prisoners who spent long periods in prison and were given life sentences, in addition to a group of juveniles who are under 18 years old and a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners. He stressed that the Palestinian government will continue efforts to release all prisoners, stating that the third group will be released before the holy month of Ramadan next December.

Following discussions held between Palestinian and Israeli teams, 32 prisoners released Friday were not on the lists prepared by Israel prior to the original date slated for the release, last week. During last week's talks between Palestinian and Israeli officials, the Israelis claimed that 16 Palestinian prisoners whose names appeared on the PNA list were not eligible for early release because of their membership in either Hamas or the Islamic Jihad groups. "Even if they changed their allegiances and became affiliated with the Islamic opposition groups, those prisoners were full-fledged members of Fatah and should be released by Israel in the upcoming wave of releases," said an official close to the Palestinian negotiators. At first, the prime minister's office issued a statement saying that the criteria determined in the Israeli Cabinet for the release of prisoners had not changed. In return for this compromise, Israel expected the Palestinians to agree to accept some of the prisoners who they had rejected in the course of negotiations. Those were 12 prisoners who were arrested after the Oslo accords.

Towards the end of the week, the working teams of the two sides met and reportedly worked out a new list of names of more than 151 prisoners who would meet the criteria Israel put for the release of prisoners. Those who were included in the list but have not been released Friday are expected to be among the first group of prisoners Israel is due to release during December.

In Al Am'ari refugee camp near Ramallah, dozens of youths gathered outside the house of the Hamideh family to receive the released prisoners who live in the camp. Abu Hamida, like every other prisoner released by Israel, had to sign a commitment in which he pledged not to enroll again in any kinds of military attacks against Israel or Israeli targets.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli - Palestinian meeting tomorrow to discuss prisoner issue   (10/9/1999)
  Gaza: Refugees so close to their homes, yet so far away!   (10/8/1999)
  Israel will not free the Palestinians today because of dispute over names of the released   (10/8/1999)

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