Last paragraph, if you please:
"In Gesture, Israel Frees 429 Palestinians" by ISABEL KERSHNER
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 3 — Israel on Monday released 429 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails as a gesture intended to bolster the political dialogue with Palestinian moderates, Israeli officials said.
Most of the prisoners were taken by bus to the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, where they were greeted by tearful relatives before traveling to their homes in various parts of the West Bank. Only about 20 of the released prisoners are from Gaza, which is under the control of the militant Islamic group Hamas.
“We are fully committed to carrying out confidence-building measures, to show there is a dividend — that the political process can improve the situation on the ground,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.
But the leader of the political peace efforts on the Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas, was not present to receive the prisoners, the third and largest group to have been released since July. Mr. Abbas has been abroad since the peace conference last week in Annapolis, Md., visiting Arab capitals to discuss the results.
The prisoner release had been delayed for several days at the request of the Palestinians, Israeli Army radio said, in the hope that Mr. Abbas would return in time.
What LIARS Israel is! The Palestinians requested you hold them longer, huh?
But it didn't work out anyway? Sick of STINKING, LYING ZIONISTS!!!!!
Most of the 429 belonged to Fatah, the mainstream organization led by Mr. Abbas, though there were also a few from other Palestine Liberation Organization factions like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. None were from Hamas or Islamic Jihad, another militant group.
Yeah, Fatah thugs realized to bash Hamas skull, no doubt!
Jalal Yassin, 30, a Fatah member from Bethlehem, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2001, charged with trying to cause death, holding a weapon and ammunition, and undergoing military training without permission.
Mr. Yassin’s mother died while he was in prison, as did two younger brothers, one in a car accident and one of kidney disease, a relative of the family said. Mr. Yassin’s father is in Gaza, having been exiled there in 2002 after a standoff between the Israeli Army and armed Palestinians holed up in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
“I’m very happy to be out,” said Mr. Yassin, surrounded by his four young children, “but I am also sad to have left many friends behind in prison.”
That sentiment was repeated by many of those released. Several also said that priority should have been given to prisoners with longer terms.
A vast majority of those released Monday had been arrested during the past seven years; almost two-thirds were scheduled to be released in 2008.
But the Zionist-controoled MSM makes it sound like Israel is being soooooo generous!!!!
Just look at the headline!
Do a comparison sometime, readers, and watch how they play up Israel's "good deeds" and Palestinian divisions.
Give it a try sometime.
Under Israeli government criteria, only prisoners who have not been directly involved in the killing of Israelis can be candidates for early release.
Palestinian leaders had recently called for Israel to release 2,000 prisoners as a good-will gesture. Privately, Israeli officials have said it would be difficult to find many more candidates who fit the government rules, but Mr. Regev said he doubted this would be the last release.
An Israel Prison Service spokesman, Lt. Col. Ian Domnitz, said just over 8,800 Palestinian security prisoners remain in Israeli jails, and the army continues to detain suspects almost nightly in the West Bank. Forty-two were detained overnight between Sunday and Monday, mostly from the Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem districts, an army spokeswoman said.
Yup, let 'em out and seize some more!
I am TIRED of the SHITSTINK STATES WAR CRIMES and LIES!!!
Fuck Israel!
The Israeli government approved this latest prisoner release on Nov. 19, and Israeli officials had originally expected it to take place before the Annapolis conference, on Nov. 27.
Some of the prisoners said the last two weeks of waiting, at the Ketziot detention center in the Negev desert, had been the most difficult part of their terms.
“We were waiting for 13 days in an isolated place with no spare clothes and not enough food,” said Munir Mahrum, 22, from Nablus, who served more than three years of a five-year sentence for throwing stones and laying an explosive device.
What more is there to say, really?
Another Israeli gesture meant to strengthen Mr. Abbas has run into difficulties. Israeli officials announced Nov. 21 that they had approved the transfer of 25 armored personnel carriers from Russia to the Palestinian Authority, to bolster Mr. Abbas’s security forces in the West Bank.
But Israel objects to a new Palestinian request to outfit the vehicles with machine guns, according to Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Israel’s agreements with the Palestinian Authority do not allow for machine guns, Mr. Dror said.
I knew the Palestinians weren't going to get those vehicles!
Think Israel would want to arm the people they plan on killing?
In Gaza, five Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli gunfire on Sunday night, an army spokeswoman said. She said a tank had fired on a crew launching mortar shells, shortly after four Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded by mortar fire at a base near the Gaza border."
Yup, SAVE the ISRAELI MURDER for the LAST PARAGRAPH!
Maybe we won't see it, right, shit Times?
