|
Israel says will free 400 Palestinian prisoners
JERUSALEM - Israel will free 400 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called an attempt to boost moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a Gaza withdrawal.
Palestinians have dismissed the long-delayed release as a public relations stunt, complaining that Israel refused to give them a say in who would be freed, and prisoners they most wanted released would stay in jail.
| Well then, I guess the Israelis should just shoot them all ... |
The Israeli army said on Wednesday the mass release stemmed from approval granted earlier this week by the cabinet and reflected "ongoing cooperation with the Palestinian Authority".
| "Especially Mahmoud the Weasel ... really, we couldn't have done it without him," the spokesman added. |
Israel freed 500 prisoners in February after Abbas and Sharon announced a ceasefire, but Sharon later suspended the promised release of 400 more, saying Palestinians had not done enough to disarm militants. None of the prisoners slated for release on Thursday had been convicted of attacks that killed or injured Israelis, officials said.
| And the Israelis have co-opted a bunch of them ... oops, wasn't supposed to reveal that. |
Sharon has said he wants to bolster Abbas ahead of a pullout from all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank that is slated to begin in August as part of Sharon's plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians. The Jewish state is hoping that Abbas, elected to succeed Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence, will keep militants from carrying out attacks during the pullout. Abbas coaxed militants into the shaky truce he agreed with Sharon.
The militant group Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction and the biggest rival to Abbas's ruling Fatah party, has said continuing the truce is partly contingent on prisoner releases. About 8,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails.
Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-02 |
