All of the 26 Palestinian prisoners who will be released as part of the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority were convicted of murder. This is the second group of prisoners to be released. The Prime Minister's Office announced the release on Sunday night, including the names of the prisoners to be released.
All the prisoners committed offenses before the 1993 Oslo Accords and served 19-28 years in prison. Twenty-one are from the West Bank and five are from the Gaza Strip.
The prisoners are: Ahmed Said al-Damuni, who was convicted of the 1990 lynch of IDF reservist Amnon Pomerantz in the Gaza Strip; Omar Issa Masoud of the PFLP, who was sentenced to three life sentences for murder of Adv. Ian Feinberg on April 18, 1993; Awwad Mohammed Yusuf Massalha and Hamed Alabad Halmi Amawi, both of Hamas who murdered Yigal Vaknin in 1993; Haga Salim Mahmud Mo’id who murdered Yosef Shirazi in May 1992, after swimming from Aqaba to Eilat; Mohamed Ibrahim Nasr; Rafi Farhoud Karajeh; Mohamed Ahmed al-Sabbagh; Hazem Kassem Shbair; Sharif Hasan Abu Dhailah; Mustafa Amer Ghnaimat; Rizek Ali Salah; Afu Musbah Shkair; Muayad Salim Hijja; Najeh Mohamed Muqbel; Issa Nimer Abed Rabbo; Haza’a Mohamed Sa’di; Najeh Mohamed Muqbel; Abdel Rahman Yusef al- Haj; Osama Zakariya Abu Hanani; Mohamed Yusef Turkeman; Ahmed Said Abdel Aziz; Mohamed Musbah Ashour; Khaled Daoud Azraq; Othman Abdallah Bani Hasan; Israr Mustafa Samarin; and Musa Izzat Kura’n
The ministerial team headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the prisoner release under Israel's commitments to the Palestinian Authority. The releases will be carried out 48 hours following the publication of the list on the Israel Prison Service website, in order to allow petitions with the High Court of Justice against the release. The prisoners will apparently be transferred to the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday night.
The list of prisoners was approved after the ministerial committee for legislation rejected a private member's bill by MK Orit Strock (Habayit Hayehudi) to forbid the release of prisoners as part of the peace talks. There were bitter mutual recriminations between Likud and Habayit Hayehudi ministers during the meeting.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein also rejected a petition by Almagor Terror Victims Association against the release saying, "The decision to release prisoners as part of the peace talks is a clear political decision," he stated. "The considerations for the release are within the authority of the executive branch, i.e. the government."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 28, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013