Haniyeh: Prisoner release step towards honorable deal
Reception ceremony held in Gaza Strip to welcome home Roda Habib, 20th prisoner released by Israel in exchange for video of Gilad Shalit. Hamas prime minister thanks Egyptian and German mediators
The release of 20 female Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jail is "a serious step on the path towards an honorable deal," said Hamas prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh Sunday during a reception ceremony held in the Gaza Strip for Roda Habib, who was the 20th prisoner released as part of the deal negotiated between Hamas and Israel in exchange for a video of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Haniyeh said that the release of prisoners is a national obligation of the Gaza Strip government and of the resistance organizations. "We bless ourselves, our people, the prisoners, and their families on this day," said the Hamas prime minister, who also thanked the Egyptian and German mediators who helped broker the deal.
Over the weekend, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said in a speech in Damascus that those who have been holding Gilad Shalit for the past three years "are capable of capturing Shalit, and another Shalit, and another Shalit, until not even one prisoner will remain in the enemy's jails."
After the video deal went through, Haniyeh himself said that it was a great victory for the Palestinian resistance. He expressed his hope that "the release of the female prisoners would represent a step forward towards an honorable deal." According to him, "This is an achievement for the Palestinian factions that captured Shalit."
Haniyeh also spoke of the disturbances on the Temple Mount. "The extremist Israeli attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque continues. The threats to evacuate the worshippers under the threat of weapons and throwing stun grenades into the mosques continue. We say to those in the mosques and the residents of Jerusalem, 'Don't give up on defending Jerusalem.'"
Haniyeh took this opportunity to level an attack against the Palestinian Authority for its decision to withdraw the Goldstone Report for the UN's Human Rights Council.
"This is a decision lacking national responsibility that represents trafficking in the blood of our children, a decision that encourages the enemy to continue its crimes against us," he said.
