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<font size=3>Al Quds Al Arabia: Prisoner exchange ready to be implemented
<br><br>
<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=550&Itemid=1" eudora="autourl">
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=550&Itemid=1<br>
<br>
</a>Palestine News Network <br>
Thursday, 14 September 2006 <br><br>
The London-based Al Quds Al Arabia daily reported Thursday morning that a
prisoner exchange between the Palestinians and Israelis was completed
within the last few hours. <br><br>
The delay is controversy over which of the 10,000 Palestinian political
prisoners in Israeli jails will be released. Who they will be exchanged
for has never been a point of contention as the Palestinians have only
one: the Israeli soldier captured while invading the southern Gaza Strip
in late June. <br><br>
After the Israeli court issued its ruling Tuesday that imprisoned
Palestinian government officials must be released, hopes went on high
that a deal was soon to come. <br><br>
The Parliament deputies, Authority ministers, and several other elected
officials of local government are to be released shortly, if the sources
prove correct. After that 740 Palestinian political prisoners will be
released in two stages: the first at the end of this month, including
women and children after the coalition government is formed. The second
stage is to take place at the end of October and will be comprised of
hundreds of political prisoners representing all parties and factions.
<br><br>
A Palestinian source early in the Jordanian capital, Amman, spoke openly
on the details of the plan. The source said that the Israeli soldier
would be handed over to Egyptian authorities today or Sunday, and that at
the same time Israel will release elected Palestinian government
officials. <br><br>
The source revealed that during a clandestine meeting on Tuesday in Amman
between President Abbas and Egyptian Intelligence Minister, Omar
Suleiman, the details of the exchange were laid out. <br><br>
The source said he expected that the Israelis will release the General
Secretary of Fateh in the West Bank, Marwan Al Barghouti who is in
Israeli prison for four times life. Others to be immediately released are
Abdel Rahim Malluah, the Deputy Secretary General of the leftist Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine who has been in Israeli prison
since 2003, and Raed Salim, the Secretary General of the Arab Liberation
Front. <br><br>
The sources pointed out that with the release of the Israeli soldier
Israeli forces will stop military operations and the armed resistance
will stop launching projectiles from the Gaza Strip. <br><br>
For his part, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mahmoud Az Zahar, issued a
statement yesterday which PNN received indicating that a deal was close.
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