Israeli authorities to release 250 Fatah prisoners next week, Ma'an learns - but with conditions

4 July 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Israeli authorities intend to release 250 Fatah prisoners next week, Ma'an News Agency has learnt. These prisoners will all be in the final stages of their detention and will not have "blood on their hands", an Israeli source informed Ma'an.

According to the source, the Israeli security services have finished the final checking of the prisoners' list. A list of 305 names was submitted to the director general of the Israeli ministry of justice to check before being sent to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert will submit the list to the government's session on Sunday in order to choose 250 to be released, the source said.

Ma'an learned that the 250 detainees to be released must meet the following three Israeli conditions:

First, all of them should be affiliated to the Fatah movement.

Second, all of the detainees should have almost finished their sentence with a few months or weeks or even days left to go.

Third, all of the prisoners must not have undertaken operations against Israelis.

Commenting on these preconditions, the undersecretary in the Palestinian ministry of detainees' affairs, Ziad Abu 'Ein, expressed the Palestinian Authority's rejection. He told Ma'an that the Palestinian authorities reject such conditions which were set solely by the Israeli side. He added that the Palestinian side has always requested the freedom of all prisoners, without exceptions.

Abu 'Ein stressed that the prisoners' issue is very sensitive in Palestinian society. Consequently, the PA's political stance regarding this issue has always been very clear, he said, and remains "one of the unchangeable principles", confirmed by President Abbas.

The Palestinian Legislative Council member from Bethlehem, Muhammad Lahham, said that these conditions contradict what Olmert declared at the Sharm Al Sheikh summit. He said that Olmert's declarations were just for publicity and public relations before the media.

"Olmert claims that he will release hundreds of prisoners who are Fatah loyalists," Lahham claimed, "but these preconditions come as a slap in the face of the government of Salam Fayyad."

Further Reading:

Families of Palestinian prisoners reject Olmert's "goodwill gesture" of releasing 250 Fatah prisoners