Abbas calls for unconditional release of Arab prisoners

"Even before the capture of the Israeli soldier, there was talk of my meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss the release of Palestinian prisoners," Abbas told reporters after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the northern city of Alexandria.

"Olmert promised President Mubarak the release of Palestinian prisoners and so the release of the Israeli soldier is not a simultaneous issue. He will be released and the prisoners will be released," he said Saturday.

On June 25, three Palestinian groups, including the armed wing of the ruling Hamas party, captured an Israeli soldier sparking a crushing Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip.

At least 144 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have died since Israel launched the massive offensive to recover the soldier, according to an AFP count.

On July 12, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers, sparking a devastating offensive by Israel which destroyed the country's infrastructure and killed 438 Lebanese, mainly civilians.

Both Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups have demanded the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli jails in return for the release of the Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah's leader in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera recently that the two captured Israeli soldiers would only be freed in the "context of an exchange" of prisoners.

But Abbas on Saturday tried to distance himself from events in Lebanon.

"Our brothers in Lebanon have their circumstances and we have ours, whether it concerns prisoners or the offensive against Lebanon," Abbas said.

He did however say that the Palestinian demands for the release of Arab prisoners included releasing first women and children and those who had served sentences of 15 to 20 years.

"We don't want the Israelis to do what they did (in 2005) and release 400 people who had already finished their sentences," he said.

Israel has around 10,000 Palestinian prisoners and an uncertain number of Lebanese in its jails.

Abbas is due to travel to Saudi Arabia Saturday to meet with Saudi King Abdullah, as part of an Arab tour on the current Middle East crisis.

Source

About headlines and content that has changed after it was added to this site - see disclaimer here

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.