400 Palestinian inmates freed
2005-06-02 13:53
Beitunia - Israel released about 400 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday to the delight of their families in a bid to bolster Palestinian leader, Mahmud Abbas, and fulfil a pledge made in February.
The gesture came a day after the 70-year-old Abbas underwent "routine" medical tests in Amman, including a heart examination, at the end of a marathon overseas tour.
He said: "I am in good health."
Hundreds of freed Palestinians were welcomed as heroes by friends and relatives in the West Bank after they were dropped-off points near the cities of Hebron, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Jenin.
At Beitunia, east of Ramallah, 77 prisoners were welcomed by overjoyed relatives and well-wishers waving flags and held up pictures of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
6 000 Palestinians still in custody
The crowd burst into songs lauding Arafat, who died last November, and more than 6 000 Palestinian detainees who remained in Israeli custody.
The former detainees made their way immediately to the Muqataa, the Palestinian leadership compound in Ramallah, to pay their respects at Arafat's grave.
Majid Barghuti, who was freed 80 days before his 16-month sentence was due to expire said: "The joy I feel is tinged with sadness for the prisoners we have left behind in greater suffering than those in Guantanamo."
At the Taybeh checkpoint, near Tulkarem, detainees thrust arms out of bus windows flashing the V for victory sign, before getting out to kiss the ground.
Prison 'graveyard of the living'
A 41-year-old Mussa Qoraan, who served five years of a nine-year sentence said: "Prison is a graveyard of the living. The Palestinian Authority has to do everything possible to get all the prisoners released."
The Prisoner Club, the main Palestinian detainee rights group, said 209 of those freed had less than a year of their sentences to serve.
Approving the releases, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the move was to "strengthen the moderate elements within the Palestinian authority" and respect commitments to free a total of 900 prisoners.
But, Israel had refused to free anyone with "blood on their hands, leaving Palestinians angrily pressing for the release of long-term detainees.
'Detainees release is not enough'
Abbas aide Tayeb Abdelrahim said: "This is insufficient because all prisoners should be freed. The prisoners' issue is at the top of Abu Mazen and the government's agenda."
Senior Hamas official, Hassan Yussef said: "We support any release of Palestinian detainees, but this is not enough", reminding reporters that the release of all detainees was a condition of a de facto truce in place since January.
But, chairman of Israel's parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee, Yuval Steinitz, said the move was ridiculous.
An MP from Sharon's right-wing Likud party said: "It is absurd. The Palestinians are plotting suicide attacks and we are releasing prisoners."
- SAPA