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Palestinians celebrate prisoners’ return as victims’ families protest
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas led Palestinian celebrations late last night after Israel released twenty six Palestinian prisoners, almost all of whom were serving life sentences for the murder of Israelis in terror attacks. The released prisoners laid wreaths at the grave of former PA President Yasser Arafat before Abbas pledged to the crowd, “There will be no final agreement with Israel until all of the prisoners are freed.”
Israel had already released two groups of long-term Palestinian prisoners convicted of involvement in the murder of Israelis, in August and October, as part of an overall release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, which Israel agreed in July in order to pave the way for the resumption of peace talks. Yesterday, the US State Department commended Israel on the release. Spokeswoman Marie Harf commented, “The Israeli government’s commitment to release Palestinian prisoners helped enable the start and continuation of the final status negotiations, and we believe this is a positive step forward in the overall process.” US Secretary of State John Kerry will return to the region on Thursday to push for further progress in peace talks.
The prisoners, seventeen from the West Bank, three from the Gaza Strip and six from East Jerusalem had been transported to the Ofer Prison, near Ramallah during the day. The three Gazan prisoners were then taken to the Erez border crossing with Gaza while the five East Jerusalemites were transported directly home. At around 1am, the remaining prisoners were taken to the Beituna checkpoint for release and were then transported to a crowded public celebration in Ramallah, at which Abbas embraced each of the men.
Earlier in the day, Israel’s High Court had rejected a petition by the families of the prisoners’ victims against the release. Yesterday evening, the families and other opponents of the release marched in Jerusalem from the Prime Minister’s Residence to the Old City, where a handful then demonstrated outside the home of one of the freed prisoners.