Israel frees Palestinians before Rice visit

Ramallah, West Bank – Israel freed nearly 200 jailed Palestinians on Monday – including a militant mastermind from the 1970s – in a goodwill gesture just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began her latest peace mission to the region.

The prisoners received a hero’s welcome upon their return to the West Bank, where thousands of people joined celebrations at the Ramallah headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and elsewhere throughout the West Bank.

“We will not rest until the prisoners are freed and the jails are empty,” Abbas told the cheering crowd.

The prisoners arrived in Ramallah after being released at an Israeli military checkpoint near Jerusalem. The prisoners, kissed the ground before boarding Palestinian vehicles.
Among the 198 Palestinians freed was Said al-Atba, who served 31 years of a life sentence for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed one woman and wounded dozens of others in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.

Al-Atba, 57, was the longest-serving Palestinian inmate in Israel and is widely seen by Palestinians as a symbol of all the prisoners.

“I feel like I’ve been born again,” al-Atba told The Associated Press, but noted thousands of prisoners remain behind. “We salute them and we must do all that we can to liberate them.”

His brother, Hisham, came from Saudi Arabia to greet him, saying he felt “great joy” and “we had lost hope that my brother would be released.” Al-Atba’s sister, Raida, said she prepared her brother’s favorite food – stuffed vine leaves and zucchini.

Israel said the release was a gesture meant to bolster Abbas and his Western-leaning administration and give a boost to the slow-moving peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leader.

“It’s not easy for Israel to release prisoners. Some of the individuals being released today are guilty of direct involvement in the murder of innocent civilians,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. “We believe this action can support the negotiation process and create good will.”

The fate of the roughly 9,000 prisoners in Israeli jails is emotional for Palestinians, many who know somebody behind bars or who have served themselves. Abbas has repeatedly urged Israel to carry out a large-scale release.

Upon her arrival in Tel Aviv, Rice praised the Israeli gesture.

“This is something that matters a lot to the Palestinians, it matters a lot to the Palestinian people, and it is obviously a sign of good will,” she said, calling on both sides to carry out more confidence-building measures.