Israel Releases 26 Palestinian Prisoners, to Cheers and Anguish

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Source: NYT

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel released 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners late Tuesday as part of an American-brokered deal allowing the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on Wednesday.

A cheer went up as the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, escorted 11 of the prisoners into the presidential compound here after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The crowd, made up mainly of relatives and friends of the returning prisoners, had started to thin out but grew larger as they approached. After the official reception, they sped off to their homes around the West Bank in convoys, their pictures taped to the car windows, their horns honking.

The other 15 prisoners released by Israel went directly to their homes in Gaza.

The overnight release was widely thought here to have been timed by Israel to try to minimize scenes of celebration and news media coverage of the inmates’ arrival. The Palestinian public has also been somewhat apathetic over an Israeli gesture seen by many Palestinians as too little, too late.

Still, here on the Palestinian side of the divide, the prisoners, most of whom had served 20 years or more in prison for deadly attacks against Israelis, were viewed as political prisoners who had sacrificed for the cause and a potent symbol of resistance to Israeli occupation.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/middleeast/israel-releases-26-palestinian-prisoners-to-cheers-and-anguish.html?_r=0

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1. Palestinian Diplomats Hail Terrorists Set for Release as “Freedom Fighters”

Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiators had long declared that they would not return to U.S.-backed peace negotiations unless Israel committed to releasing prisoners linked to violence and terrorism. Israel committed to releasing 104 such prisoners, emphasizing that the move was a good will gesture aimed at restarting talks.

The list of the first wave of convicts to be released has already been published. All of the 26 prisoners were linked to the murder of Israelis. The gestures have generated predictable division inside Israel. Israeli outlets last week and this week outlined the often gruesome details behind why many of the prisoners were jailed.

The PA’s foreign ministry has responded to the controversial Israeli moves by distributing letters to dozens of ambassadors branding Israelis as terrorists and describing the Palestinian murderers as “political prisoner[s]” and “freedom fighters”:

http://www.thetower.org/palestinian-diplomats-hail-terrorists-set-for-release-as-freedom-fighters/