Haneyya: Prisoners issue must be made international

[ 23/10/2010 - 04:09 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya announced he will assume all expenses of an Arab-international tour by a delegation from the families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention aimed at publicizing their cause to the world. Speaking at the international Palestinian POW conference held by the “Innovation” foundation for consulting and training in part with the Palestinian prisoners ministry Saturday morning in Gaza, Haneyya called on Arabs to turn the prisoners issue from a Palestinian issue into an Arab, Islamic, and international issue. Liberation is the goal “All of the Palestinian factions work for one goal, which is to free the war prisoners in Israeli jails, and this conference comes in this context: to serve the cause and discuss all of the means to achieve this goal,” Haneyya said. “It is true that we are looking for a decent life for prisoners and their families, but this is a secondary goal, and the major objective is to achieve freedom and liberation for these heroes,” he added. “We cannot feel full freedom and dignity unless these heroes are freed,” he went on to say. Political arrests in the West Bank The Prime Minister said it is shameful that there are Palestinians imprisoned over politics, and resistance. Haneyya called on the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to free political prisoners detained in their jurisdiction over politics or for affiliation with Palestinian resistance groups. “It is a shame to talk about war prisoners in Israeli jails, while there are hundreds of them in the [Palestinian] Authority jails, among them women,” the Palestinian PM said. “There must not remain any Palestinian person in any prison over his work for the sake of Palestinian liberation, especially since our security is part of Arab security, and we do not have any thought of meddling with Arab security.” Internationalization of the issue “Every delegation from Western countries who comes to Gaza talks about Shalit to resistance factions. In contrast, who speaks about the 8,000 Palestinian prisoners?” “How can one captured soldier be given worldwide attention, and the issue of 8,000 prisoners be ignored?” Haneyya said it his government’s responsibility to turn their issue into an issue of international concern. He announced the government will assist travel of this delegation to other countries to clarify the war prisoners’ cause. Release of prisoners The Palestinian Prime Minister decided today to free a group of detainees in Gaza in honor of the Lifeline 5 humanitarian aid convoy that came to break the Gaza siege and take part in the international conference for war prisoners. Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al Ghusein told the PIC by phone that the Palestinian government in Gaza decided to free 20 prisoners in Gaza in honor of the convoy. Ghusein said the government will hold a press conference at 3:00pm Saturday to implement the Prime Minister’s decision to the prisoners who served two-thirds of their full sentences. “The government’s objective is only to detain people as much as would give them guidance and direction,” the interior spokesman said, expressing hope that the detainees have benefited from the time they served. He assured that there are no political prisoners in Gaza jails, and that the prisoners who were released were detained for legal violations. ---------- Haniyeh: World must act to free prisoners GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Gaza government Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday called on the international community to act on the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. At a conference in Gaza City, the Hamas leader noted that every visitor to the Gaza Strip talked about captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit but ignored more than 8,000 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel. Haniyeh said there were no detention centers in Gaza for political prisoners and that there never would be. He appealed to Arab leaders, in particular Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to release Palestinian prisoners detained in Arab countries for their political affiliation. "It is shameful that political prisoners are held in Palestine and in Arab countries while we demand that Israel releases our prisoners," Haniyeh said. The Gaza premier called on his government's Prisoners' Affairs Ministry to form a delegation of detainees' relatives to visit Arab and European countries as advocates for prisoners' rights at an international level. The delegation should include families of Palestinian detainees and those detained in other Arab countries, he said, adding that his government would fund all expenses for the tour.