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Olmert crony Haim Ramon led the committee recommending the release
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| By Israel Insider staff August 17, 2008 |
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The Israeli cabinet approved Sunday morning the release of some 200 Palestinian security prisoners as a "goodwill gesture" to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The move, proposed by a ministerial committee headed by Vice Premier Haim Ramon, was approved in principle, 16 to 4. The three Shas ministers and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz opposed the plan.
On Monday, the committee will finalize the list of detainees scheduled to be set free. The list now includes two prisoners classified by Israel as having "blood on their hands" -- participants in terrorist attacks that resulting in Israeli fatalities. One murdered an Israeli, while the other dispatched others to carry out an attack. The two prisoners have served 30 years in jail. The target date for the release is next Monday, just before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni justified her support for the release. "When Israel releases prisoners only to groups that exert force, it sends out the message that it gives in to pressure and that the use of violence and kidnapping are [effective] ways of acting against Israel," she explained during the cabinet meeting. Israel should appear equally weak to all the Palestinian factions, she reasoned.
Livni added that while releasing prisoners only to Hamas strengthened the terror organization, releasing prisoners to pragmatic political players would strengthen them and prove that dialogue with Israel produces results. She did not detail the results.
Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai scorned the cabinet's decision. Netanyahu said that "instead of adopting a resolute stance against terror, the Kadima government continues to release hundreds of prisoners in return for nothing."
Yishai warned that the cabinet's decision jeopardized the chances of freeing captive IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Shalit. Israel Beitenu MK Israel Hasson said that "the government insists on 'fixing' the damage it causes by inflicting significantly more damage," saying that "a government that would not have given in to Hizbullah and Hamas demands in the past, would not have to give in to Fatah today, by releasing prisoners in return for nothing."
MK Eliyahu Gabai (NU-NRP) was outraged at the decision, saying that the government was "defying common sense and the trust of Israeli citizens." He added: "This government, which has reached the end of the road both physically and morally, is releasing the prisoners in exchange for nothing, continuing to jeopardize Israeli citizens' security time and again,"
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad welcomed the gesture, but said Israel should release every prisoner. "We welcome the release of any Palestinian prisoner. It is considered a victory for Palestinians. We ask Israel to change its conditions for releasing prisoners and we ask for the release of all prisoners without exception." Defense Minister Ehud Barak hosted Fayad at his Tel Aviv home and promised that Israel would continue to work to ensure the success of Palestinian efforts to assume security control in Jenin, and then other cities in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
Mark Regev, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, said over the weekend that the move was designed to show the Palestinians and the Arab world that the path of dialogue and moderation would bring about the most tangible results. "If we compare what Abu Mazen [Abbas] will get in two weeks, what Hizbullah got [in the recent prisoner swap] looks minuscule," he said.
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