Word: palestinians
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...timely boost to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel on Monday freed 429 Palestinian prisoners. Their release was seen as a goodwill gesture toward Abbas, who is anxious to show Palestinians that he did not return from the Annapolis summit empty-handed. Abbas needs all the help he can get from Israel and the U.S. He is locked in a power struggle with the Islamic movement Hamas, which last June seized control of the Gaza strip and chased out Abbas' militia...
...sponsored peace summit last week concluded with a pledge by Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a final solution by the end of 2008 to the decades-old regional conflict. But Palestinians wanted more out of Annapolis than mere words and hazy promises. Before the summit, Abbas was pushing the Israelis to release up to 2,000 Palestinian inmates, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused. (Israel is holding more than 10,000 Palestinian inmates, many in jail for for years without being charged or put on trial.) It was only after U.S. prodding, Palestinian sources told TIME, that Israel...
Busloads of jubilant prisoners crossed the Israeli checkpoint into the Palestinian town of Ramallah. Escorted by a procession of honking cars and Palestinians cheering and waving flags, the buses rolled into Abbas' high-walled headquarters - good P.R. for the President, as intended. There was no denying the open joy and gratitude that the families of the freed prisoners expressed toward Abbas. Spilling out of the buses, the ex-detainees were mobbed and kissed by relatives. Some tumbled out of the bus windows, straight into arms of tearful mothers. The official Israeli statement made clear who was meant to benefit from...
However, some Palestinians expressed cynicism over the release. All of those just freed belonged to Abbas' own Fatah movement; detainees of other resistance groups were skipped over. One jailed Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, described the release as "a joke." He added: ""Israel can free thousands of prisoners, not just 400. Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] requested the release of more prisoners but was denied by Israel." Israeli army officials grumbled publicly about the prisoners' release, especially those of 20 Palestinians headed back to Gaza. Militants based there are constantly shooting home-made rockets at Israel...
...East than they began issuing contradictory statements. Olmert said that the "end of 2008" for a final solution was actually a flexible deadline; meanwhile, Abbas refused to accept Olmert's declaration that Israel was "a Jewish state," since to do otherwise might take away the right of 4.5 million Palestinian refugees who are still demanding their right to return to their original homes, vacated...