Concessions, hope in PA for release of prisoners

Arab Israelis will also be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip for visiting first degree relatives.

Preparing for Eid al Adha holiday (Photo: AP)

There is hope in the Palestinian Authority that these concessions are the first signs of the coming annual release of at least a few dozen Palestinian prisoners for the coming holiday.

In the past few days, and especially on Thursday evening, a stir has been noted in some of the prisons in which security prisoners are incarcerated, after some prisoners received information of their possible upcoming release from their relatives.

'Continue pressuring Israel'

According to the prisoners' relatives, the information was given to them by official sources in the Palestinian Authority.

One of the prisoners even had a celebration held for him by his friends. The prisoner, a Nablus resident, has four months left before his release, and his family members informed him that officers in the Authority reported that he would be released soon.

The official word in the Authority is that the matter is still far from closed, but officials expressed hope that the Israeli government would make this gesture of releasing prisoners for the holiday. They are also awaiting the removal of checkpoints.

Human rights organizations and various activists said that in the past few days there has actually been a 'deterioration' in the checkpoint situation, mainly in surprise checkpoints and many checkpoints around Nablus, Tul Karm and many other areas;delays and difficulties have been unusually piling up, they said.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas decided that Israel would release USD 100 million of the Palestinian tax funds it had frozen.

The two leaders also agree to look into expanding the ceasefire together, to include the West Bank, if the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would continue and the terror would cease.

A joint committee for determining criteria for the release of prisoners will also be established.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas announced that "The issue of the Palestinian prisoners will be solved soon. They will be released, and in return, the Israeli soldier (Gliad Shalit) will be freed."

He continued to call on the people to "Continue pressuring Israel until the issue is solved as soon as possible, the prisoners are released, and so is the soldier. Negotiation towards the release of the soldier depends on the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel is willing to release in return."

The Popular Resistance Committee's spokesman Abu Mujahad said that progress has been made in the efforts to come to a prisoner's exchange deal.

"We have received positive signals from the Egyptian mediators. It all depends on the Israelis," he said.

Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, was skeptical about these statements and told Ynet that he prefers not to get his hopes up.

"Haniyeh has made similar statements before, and nothing has come of them. After all, he is not the one to decide, the key is not with him, but with Hamas – Damascus. I am sure that if it were up to him, he would have completed the negotiations by now," said Shalit.

Efrat Weiss contributed to the report