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| Israeli officials free scores of Palestinians |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 09/13/2004 |
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Israel began freeing 161 Palestinian prisoners from its jails last Tuesday in the largest mass release in more than seven months, Israeli security officials said. The Palestinian Authority called the move meaningless, and Israeli officials said it was meant not as a good will gesture but as a way to ease conditions in prisons overflowing with Palestinians rounded up during nearly four years of conflict. The release came less than a week after Palestinian inmates halted an 18-day hunger strike called to protest prison conditions. It was not known whether any of those released had been among the 3,000 who had taken part in the strike at its peak. Israel's plan called for the release of 137 Palestinians last Tuesday and another 24 last Wednesday, all nearing the end of their jail terms and most convicted of minor offenses like stone-throwing or illegal entry into the country, security officials said. The officials said none of the freed detainees had been involved in attacks on Israelis. "These are prisoners without blood on their hands," a member of the military said. Many of Israel's 7,000 Palestinian prisoners were arrested for alleged militant activity and have been held in "administrative detention" without charge or trial, conditions that have drawn censure from international human rights groups. The release was the largest since January, when Israel freed 400 Palestinian inmates as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. The daily Haaretz quoted sources in the Israeli military as saying it was increasingly worried by prison overcrowding. More than 2,500 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank this year, prompting security commanders to order forces to carry out only urgent arrests, the newspaper reported. The hunger strike that came to an end on Thursday added to the strain on the prison system. Palestinian officials said Israel had met the strikers' demands, which included ending strip searches, allowing more frequent family visits, improving sanitation and allowing access to public phones. Israeli officials denied making any concessions and dismissed the strike as a ploy by prisoners to secure easier communication with militant groups that they belonged to. |
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