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"With
tens of thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails, where is
peace?"
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GAZA
CITY, July 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At least 1,500
Palestinian children took to the streets of Gaza Wednesday, July 16, to
appeal for the release of their fathers, brothers and other Palestinians
in Israeli jails.
The
children, in their teens and less, wearing green caps and headbands
marked with the slogan, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is
His prophet," waved large Hamas flags, while others carried
handwritten cardboard signs in Arabic and English, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
"Father,
I am waiting for you", "Oh world, help Palestinian
prisoners", "I want my dad", and "With tens of
thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails, where is peace?" They
read.
Other
children carried framed photographs of their jailed brothers or fathers,
as small groups brandished a poster of 14 top Hamas members detained by
Israel.
Yehia
Daas, 12, said his father was serving a five-year sentence in Israel for
his activities in Hamas.
"I
have seen him once in five years, we can only go every six months and
the journey to Israel is very difficult with the closure," he
lamented.
Mohammed
Gandil, also 12, launched a diatribe on the Israeli occupation.
"We
must continue to kill Jews until our land is freed," he said, as
the procession marched from Unknown Soldier Square in downtown Gaza City
to the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
"After
the three-month truce is over, we will resume killing them because they
want to kill us too and there is no other way," he added in a
defiant tone.
The
major Palestinian armed groups declared
a three-month halt to anti-Israeli attacks late last month.
Rights
organizations estimate Israel currently detains about 6,000
Palestinians, most of them arrested since the September 2000 start of
the Intifada.
Israel
agreed last week to free
300 prisoners but ruled out the release of activists of Hamas or Islamic
Jihad.
Palestinian
Minister of State for Security Affairs Mohammad Dahlan told Israeli
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz that the move was a positive first step,
but not enough.
On
Monday, July 14, Palestinian minister for prisoners affairs Hisham
Abdelrazeq said Israel and the Palestinians had hit a dead
end in talks over the release of prisoners and
international intervention was needed to resolve the issue.
Easing
Ban
In
a related development, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday
that as a gesture to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, Israel is
considering easing a ban on freeing Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners,
as well as allowing the return to the West Bank of some 30 Palestinian
activists banished to the Gaza Strip last year after they were holed up
in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity for more than a month.
Quoting
the Israeli Army Radio, it said that under pressure by the Bush
administration to shore up Abbas's new Washington-backed government,
Israel may lift its blanket ban on releasing jailed Hamas and Islamic
Jihad members, and free "administrative" prisoners who have
not taken part in "acts of terror. "
The
40-day Israeli army siege of the Bethlehem holy site, by tradition the
birthplace of Jesus, ended with an accord in which 13 men wanted by
Israel, would be expelled to Europe.
About
30 others, all West Bank residents, were exiled to the Gaza Strip.
The
radio said Israel had rejected a proposal to allow the 13 to return, but
was leaning toward allowing the men expelled to Gaza to return home.
