Manzumeh Galep offered the ritual expression of regret that it was her son who was walking free on Monday. It should have been someone more deserving, she said; one of those serving multiple life sentences.
But as the fresh-faced young man stepped from a bus carrying a batch of Palestinian prisoners from an Israeli desert prison camp to freedom in Ramallah, Mrs Galep’s tears washed away whatever regret there might have been at his freedom.
Majdi Galep (23) spent the past three years in jail for membership of a banned organisation, Hamas. On Monday he and about 500 other Palestinians were freed in the largest prisoner release in 10 years, one of the confidence-building measures agreed between Ariel Sharon and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, following the ceasefire declared this month.
The freed men were greeted by weeping wives, parents and children, and celebratory gunfire. But the mood was tempered by the oft-mentioned fact that thousands more prisoners remain in jail, and concern that releasing detained men is the only tangible benefit of the ceasefire so far.
”There are a lot more Palestinians in prison who want to try the peaceful way, who want to give negotiations a chance again,” said Galep as he was embraced and kissed by relatives and friends. ”But if there is no change on the ground then things will go back to the way they were.”
Israel made each of the freed prisoners sign a pledge not to return to violence, a commitment some felt they were bound by only so long as the promise of an independent Palestine held out by Abbas does not collapse.
”The prisoners support Abu Mazen [Abbas],” said another prisoner, Nizar Shahin, who was freed halfway through a four-year sentence for illegal weapons possession. ”We have finished with the military strategy and now we are going toward the political strategy. I hope.”
His elderly mother, Nadia, wearing a gold crucifix around her neck, was less certain. ”The conflict is not over. If the Jews are still here we will have a problem. We are all waiting to see what Abu Mazen can achieve. We have hope, but we do not have confidence.”
The fate of the 7 500 who remain in Israeli jails is a testing issue for Abbas. Almost every Palestinian family has a member who was imprisoned during the conflict.
”The prisoners are the ones who sacrifice their lives to liberate Palestine,” said Galep. ”They do it for us. But those who were released only had two or three months to spend in jail. They should release those with life sentences.”
During previous prisoner releases, Sharon has insisted that no one would be freed who has ”blood on his hands”. That may change now that the Palestinians and Israelis are to form a committee to agree the names of 400 more prisoners to be released in the coming weeks.
But senior Israeli officials say there is no prospect of the bulk of Palestinian prisoners being freed before there is substantial political progress.
”Releasing prisoners is a very good step,” said the Palestinian security chief, Jibril Rajoub. ”But they should release all the prisoners instead of keeping some as hostages, otherwise I think the prisoners will remain a source of tension and maybe conflict in the future.”
The freed prisoners were dispatched to five West Bank towns. Those who arrived in Ramallah were dropped outside Yasser Arafat’s old headquarters and immediately made for his grave, to pay homage to their leader who died while they were in jail.
Afterwards, they were greeted as ”heroes” by the man who has turned Arafat’s strategy on its head, Abbas. ”It’s the first step. We want to liberate all the prisoners and empty the jails,” he said. ”It’s a social tragedy, it’s a political tragedy.” He was interrupted by the freed prisoners chanting: ”There is nobody like you, Abu Mazen.”
They interrupted him again when he said that he would settle for nothing less than an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
But the prisoners and their families said confidence in their new leader would be sustained only by relief from the heaviest pressures of occupation. ”Nothing has changed yet on the ground,” said Hatem Zaidan, a father waiting for his son to be freed. ”We want to see action on the ground, we don’t just want ink on paper. First release all the prisoners, second evacuate the settlements, lift the checkpoints, and stop assassinating and arresting people.”
But, to the anger of many Palestinians, the killings continue.
Last week, Israeli forces shot dead two youths aged 14 and 15 in separate incidents, one for allegedly throwing stones and the other for brandishing a knife. On Monday, Palestinians questioned why it was necessary to kill rather than wound the teenagers.
No Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks since the ceasefire was declared. – Guardian Unlimited Â