26 Palestinian Detainees See Freedom Amid Celebrations
Local Editor
"Israel" has freed the second of four batches of 26 Palestinian prisoners, as part of a deal for the resumption of so-called peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Some 104 Palestinian inmates are likely to be freed over the coming months.
21 of the freed detainees headed to the West Bank while only 5 went to the Gaza Strip.
In this context, hundreds gathered in the PA center in Ramallah to welcome the freed detainees, who were all detained before 1993.
More than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, many of them without charge or trial.
An "Israeli" official claimed last week that the move was linked to a deal with the PA in exchange for continued settlement construction in the occupied territories.
But the PA has vehemently denied the allegation, saying the construction activities seriously threaten the talks that resumed in July after a three-year halt.
Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, various officials and thousands of Palestinians welcomed 21 veteran Palestinian detainees in the West Bank as part of diplomatic moves to ensure "continuation of direct talks". Five Gaza Strip detainees were sent to the Erez Terminal.
Media sources in Ramallah have reported that Abbas, and Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, personally welcomed the freed detainees, while thousands cheered and chanted for the liberation of Palestine and the release of all detainees held by "Israel".
Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also gathered at the Erez terminal, and welcomed the five freed Gaza strip detainees.
Leaders of Fateh and Hamas movements, along with leaders of different factions, social and religious figures, and thousands of residents, welcome the freed detainees in Gaza, and chanted for the liberation of all detainees.
"We congratulate and greet our brothers who arrived from behind bars to the world of freedom. We welcome them and congratulate ourselves for this great reunion. We affirm that we had said 'let them return to their homes and not anywhere else,'" Karaka said at the greeting ceremony for the freed prisoners in Ramallah.
"Today is the second joy, and in two months, there is a third, a fourth and a fifth until jails are cleared and they all come back," Ma'an quoted Karaka as saying, adding that "our joy remains incomplete until all prisoners are freed."
"Israeli" War Minister Moshe Yaalon told "Israeli" TV he felt for the bereaved families but that the decision to free the prisoners came from a "responsibility to guide the state of Israel according to a long-term strategy."
The freed detainees were identified as:
1. Ahmed said al-Damuni, arrested in September 1990
2. Massoud Issa Rajib Amer, arrested in 1993
3. Mohamed Yusef Turkeman, arrested in October 1992
4. Osama Zakariya Abu Hanani, arrested in October 1992
5. Ahmed Said Abdel Aziz, arrested in February 199
6. Israr Mustafa Samarin, arrested in August 1992
7. Musa Izzat Kura'n, arrested in August 1992
8. Sharif Hasan Abu Dhailah, arrested in May 1992
9. Mustafa Amer Ghnaimat, arrested in July 1985
10. Ziad Mahmoud Ghnaimat, arrested in June 1985
11. Haza'a Mohamed Sa'di, arrested in July 1985
12.Othman Abdallah Bani Hasan, arrested in July 1985
13. Mohamed Musbah Ashour, arrested in February 1986
14. Issa Nimer Abed Rabbo, arrested in October 1984
15. Mohamed Ahmed al- Sabbagh, arrested in January 1991
16. Afu Musbah Shkair, arrested in July 1986
17. Mohamed Ibrahim Nasr, arrested in May 1985
18. Rafi Farhoud Karajeh, arrested in May 1985
19. Hazem Kassem Shbair, arrested in March 1994
20. Yusef Awwad Masalha, arrested in May 1993
21. Rizek Ali Salah, arrested in June 1993
22. Muayad Salim Hijja, arrested in May 1992
23. Najeh Mohamed Muqbel, arrested in July 1990
24. Abdel Rahman Yusef al- Haj, arrested in February 1992
25. Khaled Daoud Azraq, arrested in February 1991
26. Hilmi Hamad al-Amawi, arrested in January 1994
Back in mid-August, "Israel" released the 26 veteran detainees, held since before Oslo; 14 of them are from Gaza and 12 from the West Bank.
Tel Aviv will be releasing more detainees on December 29, and on March 28 2014.
Source: Websites, edited by website team
