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Abbas to released prisoners: I will continue to work for the freedom of all Palestinians |
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Tuesday, 23 December 2008Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a speech to the 209 West Bank Palestinians freed Monday afternoon from Israeli detention centers.
Abbas spoke to the gathered men and woman alongside their friends and family in the Palestinian presidential compound in Ramallah. They were released after Abbas’ repeated requests to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who promised to release 250 Palestinians from Israeli jails before 8 December. A total of 227 prisoners were released, though 18 went directly to Gaza.
“Brothers of ours have been released from Israeli jails today and are headed to their homes in the Gaza Strip. We hope they will not find new jails awaiting them there,” Abbas said.
Most of the prisoners released Monday are affiliated with Abbas’ party Fatah, and others were primarily from Palestine’s leftist factions the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Israel’s agreement to release the prisoners is a move to bolster Fatah popularity.
As Abbas stepped out onto the podium in Ramallah, he told the crowd, “Our celebration will remain unfinished until all 11 thousand prisoners are released.” During his speech to the assembled mass of thousands there to greet the prisoners, Abbas pledged to the crowd to continue working on the issue of refugees, calling it the government’s top priority.
Abbas further pledged to work for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails regardless of their political affiliation with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the DFLP or PFLP or Fatah. “All are our prisoners and so they must be released,” he emphasized.
There will be no solution for the Palestinian question, he added, until all the Palestinian lands including Jerusalem are restored.
Preceding Abbas’ speech released prisoners visited the tomb of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, then shook hands with the current president before he gave his speech.
Delayed release
The prisoner release was delayed after petition was delivered to the Israeli High Court by the Israeli Legal Center for Terror Research and Regional Council for the illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank Gush Etzion last week demanded that the state halt the release of “terrorists.”
The petition was refused by the Israeli government on the basis that the High Court should not interfere with state foreign affairs, they also added that the petition was submitted too late for consideration.
Ma'an News |
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Palestine
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