PIC
[ 04/12/2009 - 10:40 PM ]
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
The Palestinian liberation movement, Hamas, is conducting complicated and exhaustive negotiations with Israel in an effort to conclude a prisoner-exchange accord between the two archenemies.
The German-mediated negotiations are expected to produce a swap deal that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian political activists and freedom fighters from Israeli jails and dungeons in return for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian guerillas near Gaza more than three years ago.
Israel, which detains as many as 10,000 thousand Palestinian prisoners, including many political and resistance leaders, hoping to use them as bargaining chips in any prospective final-status talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), has exhausted all possible efforts to free the captured soldier by force. However, thanks to Hamas’s legendary vigilance and iron-clad will, all these efforts failed to retrieve Gilaad Shalit from Hamas’s custody.
Now, Israel is trying to outsmart Hamas by insisting that an undisclosed number of the would-be released prisoners be deported.
Hamas must reject this contemptible Israeli proposal since expulsion is probably the worst calamity that could afflict any Palestinian after murder.
Israel is of course accustomed to the wanton practice of expelling Palestinians from their ancestral land. Indeed, Israel itself wouldn’t have seen the light of the day had it not been for the massive ethnic cleansing preceding the expulsion of the bulk of Palestinians from their motherland.
The barbarian practice of expelling Palestinians from their homeland has always been a typical Zionist behavior. Zionism, or Jewish Nazism, is based on ethnic cleansing. Zionism and ethnic cleansing are two sides of the same coin.
Hence, it is more than imperative that Hamas should even refuse to listen to these criminal proposals since the extirpation of a human being from his native land is a calamity that can only be compared to murder.
In the Quran, expulsion is equated with death.
In Sura IV, verse 66, we read that “ If We had ordered them to sacrifice their lives or to leave their homes, very few of them would have done it: But if they had done what they were (actually) told, it would have been best for them, and would have gone farthest to strengthen their (faith)”
It is true that deportation, especially if it lasts for a short duration, is better in comparison to a last abode in Zionist dungeons and concentration camps.
However, it is equally true that Palestinians must never lend legitimacy to this nefarious practice. After all, the extirpation of our people from our homeland is our ultimate Nakba, our ultimate holocaust.
Hamas does have a glorious history in thwarting Israeli designs to expel more Palestinians from occupied Palestine.
In the early 1990s, when hundreds of Islamic activists were deported by Israel to Marj al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon, tremendous efforts were made to make the expulsion as brief as possible.
Eventually, Israel was forced to repatriate all the deportees.
Fortunately, deporting Palestinians is no longer as easy now as it was 20 years ago. Neighboring Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Syria and especially Lebanon wouldn’t allow the Judeo-Nazi authorities in Tel Aviv to treat the freedom fighters as “garbage” and Lebanese territory as a “dumping ground.”
Nor would any other country collaborate with the Zionist regime in implementing an ethnic cleansing measure since such collaboration would amount to a clear violation of international law.
But Israel could just throw people from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip as it has done repeatedly since Hamas lacks the strength to prevent such an act.
This is why Hamas has to be highly emphatic in its rejection of any proposed deportation of any of the prisoners.
There is no doubt that a successful prisoner-exchange deal with Israel will be one of the greatest Palestinian achievements ever. It will give hope to thousands of Palestinian detainees, many of them languishing in prison without charge or trial, namely that their fate doesn’t necessarily depend on Israeli magnanimity, assuming that Israel possesses such a character.
A final word to the Israeli public. It is your oppressive treatment of our people, especially our prisoners, that forces our freedom fighters to risk their lives by capturing your soldiers in order to force you to free our activists.
We know that the fate of Gilaad Shalit is important to you. But you should understand that the fate of thousands of Palestinians languishing in your dungeons is likewise very important to us.
We are not children of a lesser God.
[ 04/12/2009 - 10:40 PM ]
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
The Palestinian liberation movement, Hamas, is conducting complicated and exhaustive negotiations with Israel in an effort to conclude a prisoner-exchange accord between the two archenemies.
The German-mediated negotiations are expected to produce a swap deal that would see the release of hundreds of Palestinian political activists and freedom fighters from Israeli jails and dungeons in return for the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian guerillas near Gaza more than three years ago.
Israel, which detains as many as 10,000 thousand Palestinian prisoners, including many political and resistance leaders, hoping to use them as bargaining chips in any prospective final-status talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), has exhausted all possible efforts to free the captured soldier by force. However, thanks to Hamas’s legendary vigilance and iron-clad will, all these efforts failed to retrieve Gilaad Shalit from Hamas’s custody.
Now, Israel is trying to outsmart Hamas by insisting that an undisclosed number of the would-be released prisoners be deported.
Hamas must reject this contemptible Israeli proposal since expulsion is probably the worst calamity that could afflict any Palestinian after murder.
Israel is of course accustomed to the wanton practice of expelling Palestinians from their ancestral land. Indeed, Israel itself wouldn’t have seen the light of the day had it not been for the massive ethnic cleansing preceding the expulsion of the bulk of Palestinians from their motherland.
The barbarian practice of expelling Palestinians from their homeland has always been a typical Zionist behavior. Zionism, or Jewish Nazism, is based on ethnic cleansing. Zionism and ethnic cleansing are two sides of the same coin.
Hence, it is more than imperative that Hamas should even refuse to listen to these criminal proposals since the extirpation of a human being from his native land is a calamity that can only be compared to murder.
In the Quran, expulsion is equated with death.
In Sura IV, verse 66, we read that “ If We had ordered them to sacrifice their lives or to leave their homes, very few of them would have done it: But if they had done what they were (actually) told, it would have been best for them, and would have gone farthest to strengthen their (faith)”
It is true that deportation, especially if it lasts for a short duration, is better in comparison to a last abode in Zionist dungeons and concentration camps.
However, it is equally true that Palestinians must never lend legitimacy to this nefarious practice. After all, the extirpation of our people from our homeland is our ultimate Nakba, our ultimate holocaust.
Hamas does have a glorious history in thwarting Israeli designs to expel more Palestinians from occupied Palestine.
In the early 1990s, when hundreds of Islamic activists were deported by Israel to Marj al-Zuhur in southern Lebanon, tremendous efforts were made to make the expulsion as brief as possible.
Eventually, Israel was forced to repatriate all the deportees.
Fortunately, deporting Palestinians is no longer as easy now as it was 20 years ago. Neighboring Arab countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Syria and especially Lebanon wouldn’t allow the Judeo-Nazi authorities in Tel Aviv to treat the freedom fighters as “garbage” and Lebanese territory as a “dumping ground.”
Nor would any other country collaborate with the Zionist regime in implementing an ethnic cleansing measure since such collaboration would amount to a clear violation of international law.
But Israel could just throw people from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip as it has done repeatedly since Hamas lacks the strength to prevent such an act.
This is why Hamas has to be highly emphatic in its rejection of any proposed deportation of any of the prisoners.
There is no doubt that a successful prisoner-exchange deal with Israel will be one of the greatest Palestinian achievements ever. It will give hope to thousands of Palestinian detainees, many of them languishing in prison without charge or trial, namely that their fate doesn’t necessarily depend on Israeli magnanimity, assuming that Israel possesses such a character.
A final word to the Israeli public. It is your oppressive treatment of our people, especially our prisoners, that forces our freedom fighters to risk their lives by capturing your soldiers in order to force you to free our activists.
We know that the fate of Gilaad Shalit is important to you. But you should understand that the fate of thousands of Palestinians languishing in your dungeons is likewise very important to us.
We are not children of a lesser God.
Report: Israel, Hamas Reject Mediator's Proposals
04/12/2009 A senior Hamas source told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper in an interview published Friday morning that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian organization on a prisoner exchange deal are facing three major obstacles: Israel's refusal to release 50 detainees out of 450 demanded by Hamas, its insistence on deporting 130 detainees, and its refusal to include Israeli Arabs in the deal.
According to the source, the German mediator has been visiting the Gaza Strip and the occupied territories, relaying different offers to both sides in a bid to overcome the difficulties.
One of the options raised, the source said, was to deport some of the 50 detainees Israeli refuses to release abroad, deport others to the Gaza Strip and leave the rest in jail. According to the source, the talks are progressing but no one can predict their results.
Saudi newspaper al-Watan published a similar report, quoting sources monitoring the negotiations as saying that Hamas rejected the offer it received from Israel through the German mediator.
According to the Saudi report, the dispute revolves around ,Israel's refusal to release 15 detainees, headed by former Tanzim leader in the West Bank Marwan Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Palestine Ahmed Saadat and 10 leaders of Hamas' military wing, including Abdullah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed. "This is a red line," one of the sources said. "There is no chance the deal will go through without their release."
According to the reports, Israel has also turned down some of the demands made by Hamas. A Hamas source told the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that the German mediator informed the organization heads that Israel is adamant in its refusal to accept some of their demands. "This response by Israel could complicate some of the issues related to the negotiations," he said.
According to the report, Hamas may delay the deal's completion following Israel's response, relayed by the mediator, that it refuses to release some of the prisoners on Hamas' list and to accept some of the special arrangements demanded by the Palestinian organization as part of the deal.
Ziad al-Thatha, Deputy Prime Minister of the Hamas government, said there was "good progress" in the negotiations and expressed hope that hundreds of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails would soon be reunited with their families.
Al-Thatha refused to disclose further information about the current status of negotiations, which he said were continuing despite "difficulties." He added that representatives of the armed groups holding Shalit were conducting the negotiations with German and Egyptian mediators.
"Our government is supporting these groups," he said. "We all want to see a prisoner exchange agreement as soon as possible so our prisoners can be freed." Meanwhile, Hamas denied a newspaper report that claimed Shalit had been transferred from the Gaza Strip to Egypt in preparation for a prisoner exchange with Israel.
"This report is untrue and does not even deserve any attention," said Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon.
Hamdan, who is one of the top Hamas political leaders, said that secret negotiations to reach an agreement on a prisoner swap were continuing. However, he would not say whether progress had been made, citing that Hamas would not make any public statements until a deal is finalized.
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