Posted on 06/03/2003 7:42:06 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Israel released scores of Palestinian prisoners, including the oldest and longest-serving inmate, on Tuesday as a goodwill gesture ahead of a summit in Jordan US President George W. Bush and Palestinian Premier Mahmud Abbas.
But disagreements remained on the fate of about 100 Israeli settlement outposts set up in the West Bank during the past several years.
Ahmad Jubarah, 68, was released from the Ashkelon prison in southern Israel after serving nearly three decades for his role in a 1975 Jerusalem bomb attack that killed 13 people, the Israel prisons service announced.
He was to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah before being reunited with his family in his native village of Tormus Aya, also in the West Bank.
Israel also released about 100 prisoners being held without charges or trial from the Ketziot, Ofer and Megiddo military prisons on Tuesday, the army said. Tayseer Khaled, a hardline PLO official arrested in February, was freed late Monday from prison.
Jubarah's release was not without controversy. Jubarah was convicted of a 1975 bombing in Jerusalem's Zion Square, where he detonated a refrigerator stuffed with explosives.
Officials from both sides said Monday the Israelis and the Palestinians will make separate declarations at the Aqaba summit scheduled for Wednesday.
An Israeli official said Sharon would issue a statement accepting the principle that a Palestinian state should be set up. Sharon also has told his cabinet he would likely make a declaration committing Israel to dismantling settlement outposts set up in violation of Israeli law.
Palestinian officials said that Abbas would recognize Israel's right to exist side by side with a Palestinian state in his post-summit declaration. They said he also would reiterate that the Palestinian Authority opposes all acts of violence and will work to stop the "military intifada" of the past three years.
Abbas has been working to secure a cease-fire with militant groups including Hamas, and said earlier this week that he hoped to obtain one prior to the summit. Israeli officials have said that Israel would probably accept a cease-fire for now, as long as it is followed by disarming the groups.
Leaders of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have indicated that they would agree to a cease-fire if Israel stopped military operations in Palestinian areas and the targeted killings of suspected militants.
Both groups dismissed the summit on Tuesday, however, saying it would benefit only Israel.
"America seeks to achieve security for Israel," Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin told The Associated Press.
"America does not want security for our people or our future. ... The road Map will fail because the enemy doesn't want peace."
Islamic Jihad leader Abdulla Shami told the AP Tuesday that the organization rejects the summit "because it serves the interest of the Israelis to achieve their security and leaves the Palestinians murdered every day."
"The United States wants to redraw the map of the Middle East for the sake of Israel, which we reject totally."
Translation (provided courtesy of my Terrorist-To-Human Translation Software v2.4): "We like killing, so any excuse to keep doing it works for us..."
No surprises...just a newly formed terrorist state created by Bush, which in 10 yaers will be armed to the teeth and being used yet again as a spearhad for the Arab states in their unchanging and eternal goal...the destruction of Israel.
And today that they are now released, Abbas has said he will refuse to recognize Israel.
So another 100 killers are on the street, and another empty promise is broken by the PA.
Road Map=Oslo=Bullshirt for bucks.
Remember the power of Prayer, Israel needs that power now!
There is overwhelming evidence to suggest the scenario you project is a highly likely.
What the h*ll is everybody thinking??
They won't be able to do it without money. We have already eliminated two major sources of terror funds. Once we achieve energy independence, there won't be any money left for bombs in that region of the world.
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