Abbas vows to continue efforts to release all Palestinian prisoners

"We won't have comfort until they are all released," PA president says; Abbas to greet 21 prisoners returning to W. Bank.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
PA President Abbas in Ramallah (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
PA President Abbas in Ramallah
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to pursue his efforts to secure the release of more Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
“We won’t have comfort until they are all released,” Abbas said in reference to the prisoners.
He said that more prisoners would be freed from Israeli jails “very soon.”
Abbas’s remarks came shortly after Israel announced that it would release 26 Palestinian convicts on Tuesday.
Issa Karake, PA minister for Prisoners Affairs, said that the 26 inmates would be released around midnight.
He said that 21 of them would return to their homes in the West Bank, while the remaining five would be transferred to the Gaza Strip to be rejoined with their families.
Karake said that the released prisoners would be moved from Ofer Prison to the PA presidential compound in Ramallah, where Abbas and senior Palestinian officials are expected to greet them.
Karake called on the families and friends of the released prisoners to arrive at the compound to participate in a reception ceremony for their sons.
He said that Israel was not planning to deport any of the West Bank residents to the Gaza Strip.
According to Karake, the agreement to release more than 100 prisoners was not related to the peace talks between the PA and Israel.