Barghouthi: IOA released 900 prisoners and detained 5,000 others since Annapolis

Contributed By Lucia

[ 15/12/2008 - 06:24 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- MP Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, leader of the national initiative party, has described the Israeli release of 230 Palestinian prisoners as "pulling the wool on the eyes", adding that 11,000 other prisoners are still in captivity.

Barghouthi said in a statement that Israel released 990 Palestinian prisoners since Annapolis conference but rounded up 4,950 others in the same period, which is five times more than those released.

Israel is pursuing a "revolving door" policy and is deceiving the world public opinion with the release of few hundred prisoners who almost completed their terms while it is still detaining thousands others along with 47 parliament members, the MP charged.

In a related development, Israeli occupation forces at dawn Monday arrested 17 Palestinians in various West Bank areas including two teenagers, Hebrew press reported.

The 'Watan' TV station in Qalqilia reported that the IOF soldiers kidnapped its cameraman Ibrahim Hammad on Monday.

In the Gaza Strip, the ministry of agriculture said that IOF gunboats on Monday kidnapped two fishermen who were on a fishing boat off the northern Gaza city coast.

It added that the fishermen were brothers and were fishing in Gaza territorial waters.

In another related development, the mother of four Palestinian prisoners died of a heart attack on Monday when she realized that none of her sons were among those released by Israel.

Relatives of Ribhia Al-Kani, 52, said that the mother was suffering from diabetes and heart disease. She had five sons and a 15-year-old daughter.

Jihad warns of exploiting prisoners' issue to deep Palestinian rift

[ 16/12/2008 - 11:11 AM ]




GAZA, (PIC)-- The Islamic Jihad Movement has warned that Israel was exploiting the Palestinian prisoners' issue to deepen the inter-Palestinian rift, noting that most of the those released by Israel on Monday were Fatah affiliated.

The Movement said in a statement that Israel's release of 223 prisoners was a "media stunt" to deceive the world public opinion and to cover for its daily arrests in lines of hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank. It explained that the number of those arrested over the past few weeks greatly surpassed the number of those released.

Jihad also criticized those who magnify the release while giving a blind eye to the suffering of 11,000 Palestinian captives in Israeli jails.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces rounded up 22 Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday in various West Bank areas.