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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Nativity Church deportees ask Shalit captors to include case in swap |
| 2009-08-16 |
| Ma'an -- Nativity Church deportee in Gaza Fahmi Kan'an appealed to the Palestinian factions holding captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, asking that they include the matter of the exiled detainees during swap negotiations. In 2002 39 Palestinians were deported from Bethlehem after a month-long siege of fighters in the Nativity Church. Twenty-six of the fighters were deported to the Gaza Strip and the rest to locations across Europe in a deal that saw them saved from Israeli pursuit or prison. Over the past seven years, deportees have appealed to the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian president, international community, and other organizations to convince Israel to allow them back to the West Bank, where their families remain. Two months ago when the Rafah crossing opened several detainees left the Strip, intending to fly to the Jordanian capital Amman, where they would reunite with their families and settle down. The men were turned back at the Amman Airport then held in Egyptian custody for days until they were escorted back to the Strip. Kan'an's request to the group came after unconfirmed news reports about a nearing prisoner-swap deal, despite Hamas' assurances that a recent delegation to Cairo talked strictly about reconciliation with Fatah, the main party in the West Bank. Deportees who are now in the Gaza Strip complained about living under very dire conditions due to the siege on the Strip, the last Israeli military offensive, and Israel's refusal to allow their families to visit them in Gaza. |
| Posted by:Fred |