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Israel Reserves Extradition Rights, Gaza Exiles Beaten
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On their way to Gaza, where Israel prepares its coming attack. |
ROME, May 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While 26 Palestinians exiled to Gaza Strip reported torture and humiliation by Israeli soldiers all the way to their exile, Israel declared it reserved the right to demand the extradition of the 13 Palestinians taken to Cyprus Friday, news agencies reported.
In Italy, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said, "Those people have the scent of blood on their hands. They killed other people," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Following a meeting with Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Perez added, "The Israeli position is very clear". Israel reserved the right to demand the extradition of the Palestinians and "put them to justice, bring them before a court".
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP later that the possibility of Israel seeking the extradition of the men "is not something that's on the agenda at the moment."
Peres said that in the meantime Israel expected any government which played host to the 13 exiles, who left Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity for Cyprus after a five-week Israeli army siege, to "keep an eye on them".
Rome and its EU partners are pondering whether to agree to accept some of the 13 "most wanted" Palestinians into exile and are likely to make a decision on the Palestinians' legal status at a foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels Monday.
"We should decide to exercise the right or not depending on the circumstances," added Peres. "There are many possibilities. Look, to tell things as they are, it's not a clear cut juridical arrangement. Let's be open about it, namely it's a political arrangement to overcome an extremely complicated juridical situation.
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Perez |
"I would say this is a sort of constructive ambiguity in order to solve the problem. And that's the story."
"We agreed to it in order to put an end to the siege of the Church in Bethlehem."
"We understand that this is a most unusual event."
Observers believe Israel struck the Nativity deal just to buy time, but that will not stop Israel from pursuing the Palestinian activists, both exiled to Gaza and abroad.
Meanwhile, Kalashnikov rifles were fired into the air and cheers bellowed as thousands of Gaza residents flashing V for victory signs welcomed as heroes the 26 Palestinian activists sent to the Strip Friday.
One by one or in groups the men shuffled slowly across a covered passage at the Erez terminal which links Israel to the northern Gaza Strip, at the end of 38 days of siege in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
Many of the bearded men paused briefly to pray or knelt to kiss the ground once they stepped into the Palestinian territory.
Palestinian security officials and an army of journalists were among the first to welcome them into the Gaza Strip side of the Erez Crossing where the 26 men boarded a bus to a beachfront hotel in Gaza City.
Leaning from the bus windows the men returned the greetings by waving the black-and-white keffiyeh (scarf) that became over the past week a highly symbolic sign of Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation.
Several of the exiled militants told AFP they had been beaten and mistreated by the Israeli soldiers who escorted them from captivity in Bethelehem to Gaza.
"The Israeli soldiers who were with us on the bus from Bethlehem beat us up with clubs and humiliated us during the trip," said Suleiman Obeid Allah, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Obeid, who hails from Bethlehem, left behind a wife in his hometown and said the men agreed to be taken to Gaza or abroad "to put an end to the sufferings of the people of Bethlehem."
"During the siege of the (Nativity) Church, we had to eat leaves from trees and wild herbs to survive," said Obeid.
For Nader Abu Hamadi Gaza "exile" meant leaving behind in the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem his pregnant wife and a son, but like most of his fellow activists, he does not complain.
"This was a compromise and a decision taken by President Arafat and we accept his decisions," said Abu Hamadi, who also belongs to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Mazen Taher Hussein is likewise serene about the transfer to Gaza. "I have no relatives in Gaza but all the people here are like one big family for me," the Jenin resident told AFP.
"The Israeli soldiers on the bus told us they were sending us to Gaza before invading it," he said, looking strained from captivity but calm.
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