Israelis release 255 prisoners

The Baltimore Sun

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The older couple found a place among the crowd and peered through the fence at an Israeli checkpoint. They had been waiting for four years.

Yesterday, Israel released their son and 254 other prisoners in an effort to prop up beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his emergency government here in Ramallah.

As gathered Palestinians chanted their support, Abbas later addressed the former prisoners and their relatives from the steps of the presidential palace in Ramallah.

"This is just the beginning," said Abbas. "Our work must continue until every prisoner returns home."

None of the released Palestinians, who included 11 minors and six women, had been convicted of directly attacking Israelis, and most were at the end of their prison terms, Israeli officials said.

The fate of about 10,000 Palestinians still held in Israeli prisons is one of the key areas of contention between Israel and the Palestinians, and this pardon has been hotly debated in recent days. In Israel, some politicians argued that freeing prisoners could threaten the country's security. The Palestinians also were conflicted about the amnesty, which almost singularly benefited those loyal to Abbas' Fatah faction while ignoring other prisoners.

Hamas officials dismissed the release, the first of its kind in more than three years, as an Israeli ploy to divide and conquer.

"We warn against so-called goodwill gestures because they are traps placed for us on the road, aimed to increase the split of our national unity," said Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader, to reporters in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas dumped Haniyeh as prime minister and fired his government last month after Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza. Haniyeh, however, has refused to accept the termination of his administration and continues to govern in the coastal strip. Fatah controls the West Bank.

Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2005. But Israel, the U.S. and some European countries are trying to marginalize the Islamic party, which they consider a terrorist organization.

"I'm in favor of strengthening the moderates in the Palestinian Authority in ways that do not pose an unreasonable risk," said Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz of the Kadima Party on Israeli radio this week. "I believe that this release constitutes a threat."

Trying to bolster Abbas, Israel granted clemency this week to scores of wanted gunmen affiliated with Fatah who renounced violence against Israel and turned in their weapons.

But many Palestinians remain leery of Israel's motives or argue that the measures are not wide-reaching enough.

"Israel tries to use the release for more division between the Palestinians," said Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian lawmaker from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Yesterday, outside the gates of an Israeli checkpoint in Ramallah, hundreds of relatives and friends had gathered to welcome back their loved ones.

The older couple's son, Imad Jamhour, 31, was arrested in September 2003, a week before his wedding. For four years, his parents, Faraj and Halima, had waited for his release.

Although they were happy that Imad was among those released, the family said the prisoner release was a political stunt.

Louise Roug writes for The Los Angeles Times.

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