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“The
American demand is so rude and radical, as we are now fighting
only for our land that has been captured since 1948,” Rantissi
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GAZA,
August 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian
resistance groups on Wednesday, August 6, rebuffed a reported U.S.
proposal for releasing all of their detained members in Israeli jails
in return for disbanding their armed wings.
The
proposal, published by the Saudi-owned Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper
a day earlier, was dismissed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as “rude and
absurd”.
“The
American demand is so rude and radical, as we are now fighting only
for our land that has been captured since 1948,” said Abdel-Aziz
Rantissi, a Hamas leader, highlighting widely-believed views that
occupation is a lead to anti-Israel attacks.
Vowing
to keep fighting on till “our homeland is liberated”, Rantissi
offered a reciprocal initiative, whereby “we will stop hunting for
Israelis in return for allowing them to get out of our homeland
safely”.
For
Adnan Asfouri, the Hamas leader in Nablus, the American proposal
“poses a threat to the Palestinians and all of Arab peoples, as it
is an extension of other proposals for ending the Arab power in the
region and the beginning of the end for Arab armies”.
Life
in Palestinian territories is an exception among all world areas, and
“we could have been living normally unless there is an
occupation,” said Asfouri.
‘So
Absurd’
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“The
U.S. administration should cut a long road short by pressing for
an end to occupation of Palestinian territories,” in order to
end resistance attacks, Shami
|
Abdullah
Al-Shami, an Islamic Jihad leader, slammed Washington’s reported
proposal as “so absurd”.
“The
U.S. administration should cut a long road short by pressing for an
end to occupation of Palestinian territories,” in order to end
resistance attacks, said Shami.
Asharq
Al-Awsat reported that the United
States would present Israel with the proposal and, if agreed upon,
would ask Arab countries “to pressure the Palestinians into
accepting it”.
‘Drama’
In
the meanwhile, Palestinian Authority officials and faction leaders
alike dismissed the release
of 340 detainees from Israeli jails Wednesday as an empty gesture.
"This
Israeli measure is very disappointing because the Israeli side is
still far from having released all prisoners and has not met our
demand for a timetable, Palestinian prisoners affairs minister Hisham
Abdel-razeq was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Of
course, for every Palestinian released, his family will be pleased to
see him free. But the whole of Palestine wants all of them out of
prison," Abdel-Raziq said.
Rantissi
for his part said that the releases were a "drama" staged by
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the cameras.
"It's
a show for the media, a big trick. Sharon is showing bad faith,"
Rantissi said.
“f
Israel doesn't release all detainees this will destroy the hudna
(truce). This is against the conditions of the hudna."
Hamas
and Islamic Jihad had made the release of all the estimated 6,000
Palestinians behind bars in Israel one of the conditions of a
three-month truce called on June 29 in an effort to push forward the
U.S.-backed roadmap peace plan.
Mohammad
al-Hindi, political leader of Islamic Jihad, also dismissed the move
as "a ploy and a trick".
"We
cannot participate in marketing this step. We asked the Palestinian
Authority officials not to promote this trick."
Palestinian
officials were conspicuous by their absence Wednesday from checkpoints
where the detainees were set free, and have previously expressed their
grave disappointment at what they regard as the miserly numbers
involved.
Nabil
Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said
that Wednesday's releases were "not enough".
"Israel
has retracted from its agreements with the Palestinian side, as this
step does not represent progress. We want the release of all the
prisoners on a fixed timescale."
Butheina
Dukmak, a lawyer from the Mandela institute which deals with
Palestinian detainees issues, said that some 70 percent of those
released Wednesday had in any case been due to be freed by the end of
the year, and another 28 percent would have been released in 2004, she
added.
