Israel detained more than four times the number of Palestinians it released since Annapolis, says Barghouthi

Date: 18 / 08 / 2008 Time: 20:26
Ramallah – Ma’an –

Since the Israeli occupation government began making "goodwill gestures" to the Palestinian Authority last year, it has arrested more than four times the number of Palestinians it released from prison, former Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouthi said on Monday.

Barghouthi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Secretary-General of Palestinian National Initiative, said that Israel has released 788 prisoners since the re-launch of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations at the Annapolis conference last year, and arrested some 3,700.

“Even though we applaud release of resistance fighters especially [Sa'id] Al-Atabah and [Abu Ali] Yatta but we believe that such Israeli steps are nothing but gestures since there are many prisoners in Israeli prisons confirming the need to release them without conditions," Barghouthi said.

Barghouthi said that he rejects Israel's criteria for determining which prisoners to release, arguing that the prisoners sacrificed all they had to end the occupation of their country.

Most prisoners slated for August release were nearing the end of their terms

Date: 18 / 08 / 2008 Time: 17:18
Bethlehem - Ma'an -

Most of the prisoners slated for release later in August were already due to be freed by the end of 2009, data from the Israeli prison service show.

The Israeli occupation government published the list on Monday of 199 Palestinian prisoners who are to be freed in a unilateral Israeli gesture to the Palestinian Authority.

Ninety-two of the prisoners would have been released in 2009. Another 27 would have been released in 2010, and 16 in 2011. Most were arrested recently and the majority are jailed for minor, criminal offences. A few are accused of violent attacks.

As expected, most of the prisoners are members of the Fatah movement, as the plan is intended to strengthen Fatah and its leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While Fatah has cautiously welcomed the gesture, Hamas says the move will only deepen the division between the rival factions.

Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Riyadh Al-Maliki said the list of 199 was "insufficient," but nonetheless applauded Israel for its decision.

The list was approved earlier on Monday by an Israeli ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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