Palestinians fill streets to demand detainees` release

Source: AFP & AP, 18-4-2007
Brandishing photos of detained loved ones, thousands of Palestinians poured into streets throughout the Occupied Territories on Tuesday, demanding the release of prisoners from "Israeli" jails.
Marking the annual Prisoners Day, men, women and children attended rallies in the occupied West Bank cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin as well as in Gaza City showing photos of their relatives, part of the more than 9,000 Palestinians held in "Israeli" jails, and waving flags of various political factions.
"No peace without release of all Arab and Palestinian prisoners from `Israeli` jails" read one sign in the city of Nablus.
"There will be neither peace nor security without the freeing of Palestinian prisoners," Palestinian Prisoner Affairs minister Suleiman Abu Sneineh told the crowd gathered in the southern West Bank town of Hebron.
In speech after speech, speakers called on "Israel" to release all Palestinian prisoners in return for an "Israeli" soldier seized last June by Gaza militants.
"I ask all those responsible for negotiations about [Gilad] Shalit to work hard so that all Palestinian prisoners are released," one 50-year-old woman who has two brothers in "Israeli" jails told the crowd gathered in central Ramallah.
She was referring to "Israeli" Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized last June 25 in Gaza.
"We must stop all negotiations with the `Israeli` side until the release of all Palestinian prisoners," deputy prison affairs minister Ziad Abu Ain told the crowd in Ramallah. "We must make this issue an international one."
In Nablus, 80-year-old Atis Badran gripped a picture of his son who was arrested by the army five years ago.
"I demand the release of all Palestinian prisoners, not just my son," he said. "And I demand that those who kidnapped the `Israeli` soldier not release him until the freeing of all Palestinian prisoners in `Israeli` jails."