Israelis set free hundreds; Palestinians dismiss gesture

TARQUMIYA CHECKPOINT, West Bank -- Israel freed 334 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to jump-start halting peace efforts -- but the gesture fell flat among Palestinians, who had hoped for a mass release and said authorities chose mostly prisoners whose terms were about to expire anyway.

Still, emotional scenes were played out at the five handover points throughout the West Bank and Gaza, as freed men kissed the ground and waiting relatives chanted "God is Great" and pounded on drums before whisking the former inmates to festive hometown welcomes.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a year," said Hathem Kafisheh, leaning from a bus window to pick up and hug his daughter Alla. Kafisheh, a leader of the militant Islamic Hamas group in the West Bank city of Hebron, was arrested 13 months ago.

Free all

But many Palestinians expressed strong dissatisfaction with Israel's perceived failure to send an unequivocal message that a new page has been turned after almost three years of deadly violence.

"Despite the joy that every Palestinian feels over freedom for some of the Palestinians in Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Authority ... insists on the release of all Palestinian prisoners" along a fixed timetable, Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas called off a planned meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, mostly because of the prisoner dispute.

Israel still holds more than 7,000 Palestinians, primarily on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. It says that despite a one-month lull in violence since militant groups declared a temporary cease-fire, it would be dangerous to release many more prisoners as long as militant groups remain armed and able to resume attacks.

"It is interesting that when Israel unilaterally releases prisoners ... they see fit to complain," Sharon adviser Arnon Perlman said.

The acrimony surrounding Israel's intended gesture of goodwill underscored the bitterness on both sides over the lack of progress along the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

Both sides have skirted key obligations: Israel has not frozen construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza or dismantled most of the 100-odd unauthorized settlement outposts. Its troops still control West Bank cities and prevent the free movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank. The Palestinians have not disarmed and dismantled militant groups.

The Palestinians have also been angrily protesting the massive security fence Israel is building between its territory and the West Bank. Israel says it is a security measure to keep out suicide bombers; the Palestinians say the barrier encroaches unacceptably on West Bank land.

But the issue of prisoners has proven particularly corrosive -- and Israel had hoped a limited release would ease the pressure.

The releases began around 2:30 p.m. as a Palestinian taxi carried the first batch of men from Israel's Erez checkpoint into Gaza, where they were greeted by relatives waving flags and chanting "Welcome." Some of the men emerged from the taxi and kissed the ground.

Hussein Abu Eid, 32, who served 13 years of a 15-year sentence for membership in the militant group Islamic Jihad, kissed and embraced his father for several minutes. "I miss you, my father. I wish my mother were still alive to see me and bring happiness to her heart," he said.

Husam Nassredim, 24, an activist in Arafat's Fatah movement who was held without charges for 14 months, was glad to be out, but still felt trapped in Hebron, a city ringed by Israeli military checkpoints. "I went from a small prison to a bigger prison," he said, arriving home to a shower of tossed candies, balloons and rose petals.

Other groups of prisoners were released at Tulkarem, Beitunya and Salem crossings in the West Bank.

In all, 334 men were freed in the near-simultaneous releases. Another 100 detainees who were held for criminal charges as opposed to militant involvement will be freed later. Several dozen of the freed prisoners belonged to the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian sources said. Freedom for five was held up by appeals to the government by relatives of terror attack victims.

But the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club in the West Bank, Khaleda Jarar, said almost half the freed prisoners were administrative detainees held without charge, and 80 percent of the others were in the final year of their prison terms.

The Palestinian Authority said that as a protest it was not organizing official welcome ceremonies for those freed.

Israeli officials have noted that Israel was not obligated to carry out any prisoners releases under the road map, and Sharon faced pressure from his government coalition and other quarters not to release suspected militants.

Families of Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks had appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to block the releases. The court rejected the appeals.

Also Wednesday, Israeli authorities detained about 30 pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a news cameraman near Israel's West Bank security fence.

Mohammed Darwish, a cameraman for Associated Press Television News, was handed over to police for being in a closed military area, the military said. He was freed several hours later, but a videotape and a digital disk were confiscated.