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200 free, 9,000 to go?
Mahdi Rahami was imprisoned before his third son was born and he saw him only once while in captivity. Today, he was free, and he kissed the boy amid 198 family reunions, singing, dancing and nationalist slogans.
Hussein Al-Shawahim was released a half year early from a 27-month sentence and he said he would return to university and finish his accounting degree.
Ata Jabril was in prison for five years and his father, Jamal, called him a hero.
“This arrest destroyed us and destroyed our lives,” he told me.
Israel released roughly two percent of Palestinian prisoners today as a goodwill gesture to the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as both sides struggle to reach any agreement, however small, that might lead to a peace settlement. Condoleezza Rice, traveling to Jerusalem today, told reporters that reconciliation was unlikely by the end of the year.
If the prisoner release was meant to soften Palestinian public opinion toward Israel, there was no talk in Ramallah of offering any concessions for peace.
“There will not be peace without the release of all the prisoners,” Abbas told a cheering crowd outside his headquarters.
“It can be seen as the start of a new hope,” said Abdallah Abu Ali, who came from Hebron to greet his cousin, Mohammad Abu Ali — convicted of killing an Israeli in the West Bank and a Palestinian he said was a collaborator — released from Israeli captivity after 28 years.
But, Abdallah told me, as he surveyed the celebration: “It’s not enough. All prisoners should be released. … This is nothing. Their family members are waiting like we were waiting.”
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