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Israel release 69 prisoners meaningless Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030811/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinianshttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030811/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians
Palestinians Dismiss Israel's Actions
Mon Aug 11, 3:57 PM ET
By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Israel's president commuted the sentences of 69 Palestinian prisoners on Monday, clearing the way for their release, but a Palestinian official dismissed the gesture as meaningless.
The exchange reflected the general freeze in peace moves under the U.S.-backed "road map" plan, despite six weeks of dramatically reduced violence during a unilateral Palestinian cease-fire.
Israel released 334 members of militant groups from prisons last week, but Palestinians also rejected that move as Israeli propaganda, complaining most of the freed prisoners were near the end of their terms and no senior members of militant groups were among them.
On Monday, President Moshe Katsav signed orders to reduce sentences for the 69 prisoners, the government said in a statement. All were held on criminal charges — such as illegal entry into Israel or car theft — and not for attacks on Israelis. The prisoners are to be released Tuesday, the statement said.
Hisham Abdel Razeq, the Palestinian Cabinet minister in charge of prisoner affairs, was scornful. "This prisoner release has nothing to do with the negotiations, nor does it have anything to do with politics," he said. "This means nothing to us."
Palestinians demand Israel release all or most of the more than 7,000 prisoners it is holding. The issue has become a central element of Palestinian policy, and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has promised to press for the detainees' freedom.
Israel's government has countered that freeing prisoners is a goodwill gesture not mentioned in the peace plan, and it adamantly refuses to release convicted terrorists.
After the Palestinian groups declared a truce on June 29, Israel turned most of Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem over to Palestinian security control. However, Israel has refused to take further steps until the Palestinians disarm militant groups, in keeping with the "road map" requirements.
Abbas has refused to order a crackdown, fearing a civil war, preferring to stop violence through agreements, like the truce. Palestinians also accuse Israel of violating the "road map" by failing to remove dozens of roadblocks and unauthorized Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israeli police said Monday they briefly detained a Jewish settler from Hebron, saying he talked of killing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
The 22-year-old settler was arrested Sunday outside Sharon's Jerusalem residence after police said he told security officials: "The prime minister killed my friend and my neighbor. It's no problem at all for me to kill him." Police did not give the man's name.
He was released Monday pending a police investigation and after pledging not to return to Jerusalem for 15 days, police said. Police had not decided whether to file charges.
A settler spokesman said the man was referring to a soldier and a baby killed in Hebron in separate attacks during the past three years, and his words were not to be taken literally.
In Hebron on Monday, about 400 Palestinian students marched on the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) office, urging leaders to reopen the city's Polytechnic Institute. Israel closed the college in January, saying students belonging to militant groups had used its facilities to plan and carry out attacks.
Hebron is a frequent West Bank flashpoint where about 550 Jewish settlers live in three enclaves, surrounded by more than 130,000 Palestinians.
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