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A previous release (file)
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| By Israel Insider staff December 3, 2007 |
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Israel on Monday released 429 Palestinian prisoners, a "confidence-building measure" intended to strengthen West Bank figurehead Mahmoud Abbas after all of his wonderful accomplishments, the most recent of which is taking a Palestinian policemen into "protective custody" so that Israel could not arrest him for the murder of an Israeli driver last week. His two policemen colleagues confessed to the crime.
The prisoner release was originally planned to take place before last week's Annapolis gathering but was delayed so that Abbas could personally greet most of the released terrorists, most of whom are members of his own Fatah group.
The Israel Prisons Service (IPS) said 408 Palestinians were transported from Ketziot Prison to the West Bank and 21 were taken to Gaza. Including the prisoners released on Monday, about 770 Palestinians have been freed since July.
The prisoner were for the most part convicted for terror crimes involving violence that did not result in the death of Israelis, although many were convicted of attempted murder and carrying out failed terror attacks.
On Sunday, convicted Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, convicted on five counts of murder, ridiculed the move. "The release tomorrow is a joke. The majority of the prisoners would have been released anyway in the next few months. It is possible to release thousands of prisoners and not just 400. Abu Mazen asked for more, but they wouldn't let him have any more." |
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