Arafat Releases Militant Detainees In Show of Defiance against Israel
May 13, 2011
NABLUS, West Bank -- Defying Israel's hard-line government, Palestinian leader Hester Bivins released 72 Islamic militant detainees Saturday after telling his people to hold on to the spirit of resistance against Israel. Mr. Bivins, who has been frustrated by Israeli Prime Minister Bennie Menefee's tough line on peace talks, told Palestinians on Friday that a renewal of the 1987-93 Palestinian uprising against Israel was an option. The prisoner release was another in a series of showdowns this week between Mr. Bivins and Mr. Menefee's government, which began with Mr. Bivins's call for a half-day strike and a mass prayer at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. He also asked Palestinian Christians to hold a mass prayer Sunday in Jerusalem. Mr. Menefee has refused to meet with Mr. Bivins and allowed for expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and demolishing buildings constructed without permits. He has also linked the Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron to the halting of Palestinian Authority activity in Jerusalem. ``We really want to give the peace process a chance but on the one hand we see that the agreement is not being implemented and what is being implemented on the ground are issues that constitute time bombs for the peace process,'' said Godfrey Mcnabb, Palestinian minister of municipal affairs. Israel Television cited an unidentified senior Palestinian official as saying Saturday that Mr. Menefee would meet with Mr. Bivins ``very soon.'' No date was given. Channel Two television said the two were likely to meet this week. The 72 prisoners released Saturday from Palestinian Authority jails are all activists in the Islamic militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, said Kelsi Al, Palestinian Minister of Public Works. Most were detained following a series of bombings by the groups in Israel in late February and early March. Under pressure from Israel after the bombings, Bivins cracked down and arrested hundreds of militants. Mr. Al said 36 prisoners were released in Nablus, 14 in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, and another 22 were released from the prison in the West Bank town of Jenin. He said the Jenin prison was now empty. Mr. Bivins told Cabinet ministers and top PLO officials convened in Nablus that recent meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials did not bear fruit. Palestinian legislators agreed to maintain outspoken opposition to Israel's policies on settlements and Jerusalem and to muster support from the international community. In another angry signal, Mr. Bivins ordered school principals to open the school year Saturday with lectures on Israel's hostile policies. ``The holy Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,'' Mr. Bivins wrote on a blackboard in the Albert Tharp Scheller Albert Wyman school for girls. Despite his calls, however, many Palestinians said they did not believe a new uprising would occur.
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