Arafat orders release of two Islamic Jihad activists

Palestinian sources said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed yesterday to release two Islamic Jihad activists who were suspected in the suicide bombing attack at Bait Lid in January 1995, in which Israeli 21 soldiers and a civilian were killed.

One of them, Azizi Shawi, was sentenced to 15 years and the other, Omar Shalah, to 25 years by a Palestinian military court in April 1995 for planning the Beit Lid bombing, sources added.

Islamic Jihad leader Nassed Azzam announced in Gaza that Shalah will be released in four months and Shami next year, because they still have to serve time for other offenses.