'Arrests of freed prisoners could spark intifada'

Hamas prisoners minister warns against arrests after IDF detains man released as part of the Schalit deal.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Freed Palestinian prisoner greets child_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Freed Palestinian prisoner greets child_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Israel's continued arrests of prisoners released in the deal to free Gilad Schalit are likely to spark a third intifada, Hamas's released prisoners minister Atallah Abu Al-Sabh said Thursday according to Hamas affiliate Al Resalah.
"The arrest of freed prisoners is a violation of the agreement sponsored by our ally Egypt," Sabh said.
His comments came after IDF forces nabbed Khalid Makhamira Thursday for allegedly smuggling money to terrorists in the West Bank, where he was arrested in an operation in which IDF forces also killed a Palestinian teenager. He is the fifth such prisoner released in exchange for Schalit to be arrested again, according to the IDF.
Sabh called on Egypt to pressure Israel to abide by the Schalit deal, brokered by German and Egyptian mediators and signed in Cairo by Israel and Hamas last October, adding that further arrests could fuel the flames of a new Palestinian uprising.
The IDF has not said it would refrain from re-arresting released Palestinian prisoner were they to return to terrorist activities.
Following the January arrest of Hamas member Ayman Salama, whom the IDF said was the first freed Palestinian to be arrested following last years release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, IDF officials warned that Salama’s arrest sent a “clear message that people who return to terrorism will pay.”
Hamas has called on Israel to release Palestinians that have been arrested again.
In January, Israel passed a law which stated that terrorists released in prisoner exchanges who return to terrorism will be required to serve the rest of their sentence.