A group representing Israeli victims of Palestinian violence was mounting a court challenge against the planned release tomorrow of 256 prisoners, and a Palestinian Cabinet minister criticized the gesture as inadequate.
Israeli Cabinet ministers on Tuesday approved the list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed in a gesture of support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In a separate development, Israel on Tuesday freed Nasser Shaer of Hamas, the education minister in the Cabinet dismissed by Abbas after the Gaza takeover. Shaer was arrested in May and held in administrative detention, which is imprisonment without trial.
PHOTO: AFP
Shaer told reporters his release was unconditional, though the Israelis made it clear they "do not welcome any prohibited or political action, whether regional or international. In any case, we do not represent certain factions, we represent our people."
The military said that he was released after he signed a statement renouncing membership in Hamas and pledging not to hold positions in the Palestinian Authority on behalf of Hamas or "any other illegal organization."
Most of the 256 to be freed tomorrow are members of Abbas' Fatah movement, which is locked in a power struggle with Hamas. None are from Hamas.
Prominent among the prisoners is Abdel Rahim Malouh, second in command of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which carried out the assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001.
Malouh, who is about 60 years old, is said to be ill. He was arrested in 2003. A member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee, he is considered close to Abbas and could serve as a mediator with Hamas.
Olmert's office said none of the 256, including six women, were directly involved in carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Hawkish Israeli groups were planning to try to stop the release. Almagor, representing families of victims of terrorist attacks, said that it would appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court to stop it. On its Web site, Almagor said that 179 Israelis have been killed since 2000 by Palestinians freed in previous deals. Appeals against previous prisoner releases have had little effect.
Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a former head of the Shin Bet internal security service, supported the release.
"This is certainly an acceptable risk Israel is taking in order to strengthen the regime of Abu Mazen," he said after touring a prison in Israel's southern Negev Desert, where some of the Palestinian prisoners are being held.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat carefully praised the release, saying freedom for any Palestinian prisoners is welcome, but he urged Israel to free more of them. Israel holds about 10,500 Palestinian prisoners.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
ON THE LAM: The Brazilian Supreme Court said that the former president tried to burn his ankle monitor off as part of an attempt to orchestrate his escape from Brazil Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody on Saturday after the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor to flee. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out. In a video made
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
SHOW OF FORCE: The US has held nine multilateral drills near Guam in the past four months, which Australia said was important to deter coercion in the region Five Chinese research vessels, including ships used for space and missile tracking and underwater mapping, were active in the northwest Pacific last month, as the US stepped up military exercises, data compiled by a Guam-based group shows. Rapid militarization in the northern Pacific gets insufficient attention, the Pacific Center for Island Security said, adding that it makes island populations a potential target in any great-power conflict. “If you look at the number of US and bilateral and multilateral exercises, there is a lot of activity,” Leland Bettis, the director of the group that seeks to flag regional security risks, said in an
RSS