Until the prisons are empty

Israel allows Palestinians to fast in freedom

The head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, hosted a magnificent meeting of 198 Palestinians yesterday in the administrative center of the autonomy, the city of Ramallah. They were released from an Israeli prison in the morning as a “sign of Israeli goodwill” ahead of the Muslim fast of Ramadan, which begins in a week. The Israelis escorted 194 men and four women to the nearest checkpoint to Ramallah, where they were greeted by hundreds of relatives and friends holding portraits of Mahmoud Abbas and his predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat. Before release, all prisoners signed an oath renouncing terrorist activities.

Most of those amnestied are members of the Palestine Liberation Movement (Fatah), led by Abbas. Among them is the former parliamentarian of the autonomy, 46-year-old Husam Khader, who was part of the Fatah leadership and arrested in 2003. Elected in absentia to parliament in 2006, Abu Ali Yata (52 years old), also known as Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Ali, has served two life sentences since 1980. In 1979, he killed an Israeli reservist, and in 2002, while in prison, he killed a Palestinian prisoner suspected of informing the Israelis.

A flurry of criticism in Israel was caused by the release of the longest-serving prisoner, 57-year-old Said al-Ataba, an activist of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In 1977, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in preparing bombings in the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva. Then an Israeli woman died and 33 people were injured.

Last Sunday, the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice approved the agreement reached on August 6 between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas on the list of amnestied Palestinians. “It is especially difficult to release those directly involved in terrorist attacks against civilians,” noted the representative of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mark Regev. The former prisoners were released a few hours before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel, insisting on signing a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian Authority by the end of this year. The guest will meet with Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas.

The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled yesterday that there are over 10 thousand Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including legally elected Palestinian deputies. “We will not stop until they are released and the prisons are empty,” said Mahmoud Abbas. Moscow called the release "another, albeit small, step towards resolving the numerous problems aggravating relations" between Israelis and Palestinians.

Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN