Barghouthi: There are more and more Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
Ramallah, 02-12-07: The Israeli government released 429 prisoners today, claiming this to be a goodwill gesture towards the West Bank government. Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, retorted that Ehud Olmert is simply trying to mislead global public opinion about the true intent of Israel.
Dr. Barghouthi explained that since the last prisoner release on 1 October, Israel has arrested 808 new prisoners, including 22 children. This means that the liberation of 429 prisoners is not even a return to the situation of 2 months ago. The total number of Palestinian prisoners is in fact increasing.
He underlined that this ‘release some and at the same time arrest even more’ behaviour was common practice for the Israeli government, which sees Palestinian prisoners as inexpensive bargaining chips. The Israeli military carries on a relentless arrest campaign against Palestinians and these “goodwill gestures” never really bring down the number of Palestinians detained, currently standing at about 11,000.
The MP said that the Palestinian National Initiative calls for the immediate release of all prisoners, the end of the siege of the Gaza Strip and real peace negotiations between a united and democratic Palestinian leadership and Israel on the basis of international law.
He then stated that while it is the responsibility of the Palestinians to unite, the international community should not be misled: the current Israeli government is no partner for peace.