
Maayana Miskin
(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas greeted more than 200 newly-released terrorists on Monday as they drove into the city of Ramallah. The terrorists were released by Israel as a “good-will gesture” to Abbas in a move meant to strengthen his standing during ongoing Israel-PA negotiations. Abbas hosted a ceremony for the prisoners and spoke at the event. He called on Israel to release all terrorists currently held in Israeli prisons, and warned that if Israel was unwilling to do so, there would be no peace with the PA. “Our celebration will remain unfinished until all 11,000 prisoners are released,” he told the cheering crowd.
Abbas said he would work to free terrorists, no matter what their affiliation. Even those belonging to Hamas, the political rival of Abbas' Fatah terror gang, must be freed, he added. Abbas did not make an exception for those found guilty of direct involvement in murdering Israeli civilians.
Two hundred and nine terrorists were released to Ramallah, and 18 more were released into Gaza. The terrorists released to Gaza were affiliated with Abbas' Fatah. Abbas issued a warning to the Hamas leadership in Gaza during his Ramallah speech, saying, “Brothers of ours have been released from Israeli jails today... We hope they will not find new jails awaiting them.”
148 Would-be Killers
Multiple Israeli organizations attempted to overturn the terrorist release, among them the terror victims' group Almagor. According to research done by Almagor, 148 of the 227 terrorists released on Monday were convicted for attempted murder.
The group pointed out that rock attacks were not considered attempted murder for the purposes of the research, even though victims of rock attacks have been critically wounded and even killed. Only those convicted of shooting attacks, attempted bombings in populated areas or along roads and firebombing were considered would-be murderers in the Almagor study.
Most of the 227 were arrested in 2006, the group said, meaning most served no more than two years in prison. One terrorist who was convicted of firebombing and planting a bomb served less than half a year in prison.
State: Terrorist release promotes diplomatic interests
The High Court rejected petitions submitted by Almagor and others after delaying the prisoner release briefly while the state submitted its arguments. State attorneys said the terrorist release “was made to fit the diplomatic interests that the decision hopes to promote.”
Those who objected to the release argued that some of the terrorists belong to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a fact they said disproved the state's argument that the terrorist release was designed to strengthen Abbas' Fatah faction. State attorneys rejected those claims, explaining that while the terrorists in question may have belonged to Hamas and Islamic Jihad at the time of their arrests, they changed their allegiance while in prison and now identify with Fatah. “Their organizational allegiance today is not with the Islamic groups,” they wrote.
Three removed from list
While the state rejected arguments regarding most of the prisoners, three terrorists who had been chosen to be among those released Monday were removed from the list following complaints. The three in question had kidnapped and beaten Palestinian Authority Arabs suspected of cooperating with Israel.
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Comment: This is the true Abbas, Fatah and Palestinian. Our gift of prisoner release has been spit upon-it is not enough, no goodwill gesture is good enough. Do you need any more evidence? They want it all! May we find leaders with courage who initiate a new policy-no more release until our prisoners are released-one for one only!!
1 comment:
One litmus test: As long as Abbas insists on freedom for terrorists, he's clearly not interested in peace.
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