Israël laat 199 Palestijnse gevangenen vrij als gebaar naar Abbas

Waarom laat Israël 199 gevangenen vrij en niet 200? Dit is geen toeval zoals je hieronder kunt lezen.

 

Er is binnen Israël veel kritiek op de vrijlating van de gevangenen, zowel omdat een deel van in het verleden vrijgelaten gevangenen later weer aanslagen pleegde, omdat het Abbas toch niet zou versterken en de Palestijnen het toch nooit genoeg vinden, alsook omdat geen gevangenen zouden moeten worden vrijgelaten zolang Shalit nog vast zit. Ook vinden sommigen dat er wat tegenover had moeten staan van de regering Abbas.

 

Hoe het ook zij, ze zijn vrij, en Rice kan nou iets minder hard roepen dat Israël niks voor het vredeproces doet.

 

RP

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Last update - 11:08 25/08/2008

Israel releases 199 jailed Palestinians, in gesture to Abbas

 

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1015024.html

 

 

Israel released 199 Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank at 9:30 A.M. Monday, as a gesture of good will to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

The Israel Prison Service took the prisoners from Ofer Prison, close to Jerusalem, to the Beituniya checkpoint near Ramallah, Israel Radio reported. Upon their arrival, Abbas was to welcome them at a formal ceremony in his Muqata headquarters in the West Bank city.

 

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said of the release that, "It's not easy to release prisoners, especially prisoners that were involved directly in terrorist acts against innocent civilians."
 
Likud MK Gilad Erdan on Monday blasted the move as a stupid and contemptible act, saying that "killers of Israel" were being released by a failed government as a present to a weak.

 

The state responded Sunday to appeals against the prisoner release by saying that only the cabinet has the authority to revoke such a decision.

 

Last week the cabinet voted in favor of the release, which includes two prisoners convicted of murdering Israelis - both of whom have served nearly 30 years of their sentence - plus 197 convicted of lesser crimes, including attempted murder.

 

Also Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is arriving in the region for talks on the peace process.

 

Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said last week that the release of the prisoners "creates pressure on Hamas and is likely to accelerate the negotiations over [captive soldier] Gilad Shalit."

 

The cabinet held three separate votes on the prisoner issue. The release of the two prisoners with "blood on their hands" was approved by all ministers except Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter; all but Mofaz approved the release of the other 197.

 

These include 26 people sentenced to terms of 10 to 16 years for attempted murder - i.e., shooting attacks or bombings - as well as many convicted of lesser crimes, such as aiding more senior terrorists, illegal weapons possession or membership in a terrorist organization.

 

The third vote, held at Dichter's request, related to freeing another prisoner - the only one on the original list of names who comes from Gaza. Dichter argued that no Gazans should be released until Shalit is freed, and the other ministers accepted this position, voting to strike him from the list.