Israel released more than 300 Palestinian prisoners yesterday in what it called a gesture to bolster a US-backed peace plan. Palestinian officials dismissed the move as a sham.
The first prisoner freed flashed a V-for-victory sign at cheering relatives waiting at a checkpoint outside the West Bank town of Betunia and smiled broadly as he stepped off a bus that brought him from an Israeli jail.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Others kissed the ground, watched closely by armed Israeli soldiers, before boarding Palestinian vans for the trip home.
A Jewish settler broke through a security cordon and ran at the buses carrying the Palestinian prisoners but was wrestled to the ground by troops and taken away.
Right-wing Israelis and relatives of victims of Palestinian suicide bombings and shootings oppose the government's decision to begin freeing the Palestinians though none of those released were directly involved in attacks.
Palestinians, who regard the prisoners as heroes of their nationalist cause, said the release did not go far enough and demanded amnesty for all 6,000 detainees in Israeli jails.
Human rights groups have condemned Israel for holding many Palestinians without trial since the start of a 34-month-old uprising for independence.
The prisoner release was intended as a means of boosting confidence in a fragile US-backed peace plan, but instead it has fueled distrust between the two sides.
The dispute led Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to pull out of talks set for yesterday with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, on a "road map" aimed at ending three years of violence and creating a Palestinian state by 2005.
Before their release, prisoners were required to sign a document pledging that they would "refrain from hostile activity" against Israel.
But Hamad al-Smairi, a member of Islamic Jihad and one of several dozen militants freed yesterday, said he would feel no compulsion to abide by that promise.
"I am a soldier of the Islamic Jihad and I will do whatever and be whatever the Islamic Jihad wishes," he said after he was freed at the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad, one of the main groups behind a wave of suicide bombings against Israelis, joined other militant factions in declaring a three-month truce that began on June 29.
Israel, saying Palestinians involved in attacks would remain behind bars, originally announced on Tuesday it would free 339 prisoners, including about 30 who were anyway due to complete their sentences this month.
But Israeli officials decided at the last minute to remove two men from the list to consider new charges against them.
Many of the inmates scheduled for release were arrested in sweeps for suspected militants blamed for attacks on Israel. Nearly half had been held without trial.
Charges they faced included stone-throwing, membership in militant organizations and possession of weapons and explosives. The release-list contained few long-serving detainees.
Palestinian leaders spoke of Israeli deceit. Militant groups said Israel was testing their patience.
The road map does not mention a prisoner release but requires implementation of a previous plan which called for release of "all Palestinians arrested in security sweeps who have no association with terrorist activities."
"Israel is making gestures and in response getting complaints," said Gideon Meir, deputy director-general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique