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Greeted by crowds of cheering Arabs waving PLO flags, the first busloads of newly-freed convicted PA terrorists arrived near Ramallah shortly after 11:00 AM on Monday.

The terrorists were released by the Sharon government as part of a confidence- building gesture to PA leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abbas has pledged to work for the release of all convicted PA terrorists serving time in Israeli jails.

Although 180 of the 500 terrorists freed today did not complete two-thirds of their sentence, the High Court of Justice yesterday rejected a petition challenging the release. The court ruled unanimously that the criteria for determining which prisoners to set free were within the government’s legal authority.

The Almagor Terror Victims Association had claimed that the release did not fulfill the terms set by the ministerial committee, namely, that the prisoners be freed only after having served two-thirds of their jail terms.

The court decision cited the government’s pre-condition that the prisoners must sign affidavits stating they will not return to terror. Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, in a minority opinion, rejected the government’s argument that the release will reduce terror. He said that freeing prisoners only gives the Palestinian Authority evidence that they have gained something from Israel.

Another 400 convicted terrorists are scheduled to be released within the next three months, part of the same goodwill gesture Sharon offered Abbas at the recent Sharm a-Sheikh summit. Israeli and PA representatives will jointly determine which convicted terrorists will be the next ones to have their sentences commuted and their freedom restored.

Among those greeting the terrorists in Ramallah today was Abu Sucar, himself released in a previous “gesture” to the PLO. Abu Sucar detonated a refrigerator bomb in Jerusalem’s Zion Square on July 4, 1975, killing 14 civilians and wounding 70. He was sentenced to life in jail, was later freed by Israel and now serves as the PA’s advisor for prisoner affairs.

In addition to releasing jailed terrorists, Israel has agreed to allow deported terrorists to return to their homes in the PA. Thirty-nine such deportees who seized and threatened to blow up the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after averting capture by the IDF in 2002 will be returning shortly to Arab-held territories in Judea and Samaria.

Sixteen other PA terrorists from Judea and Samaria who were expelled to Gaza during the Oslo War along with their families returned to their homes on Sunday.

One of the terrorists released today told an Arutz-7 TV reporter in Ramallah that Israel will have no “peace or security until all the [PA] prisoners are released.”

Almagor member Dr. Aryeh Bachrach, whose 18-year-old son Ohad was murdered by terrorists, said he was disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the release. “The criteria that the government determined do not measure up, in terms of neither ethics nor security. It is a shame the court did not have the courage to stand in the breach and prevent the deterioration to which the government is leading. It is too bad that others also will have to pay the price of this move.” Almagor has presented much evidence that many released terrorists have gone on to commit more murderous attacks.

High-Court justice Mishael Heshin has accused the terror victim organization Almagor of political intentions in its petition to prevent Israel from releasing Arab prisoners. Almagor had told the court that the prisoners did not fit the conditions for release that the government had determined and that freeing them would endanger citizens.

Yehudit Shachor, whose son was murdered by Arab terrorists, said Justice Heshin told the petitioners, “Sharon was elected, not you.” The court rejected the petition and allowed the government to begin the release of 900 prisoners.

Just 200 of the 500 Palestinian prisoners to be released today under agreements with the Palestinian Authority have served two-thirds of their sentences, the High Court of Justice heard yesterday during a debate on a petition filed against the release by the Almagor organization of terror victims. The court rejected the petition.

The state’s representative, attorney Dani Horin, told the court that 120 of the prisoners slated to be released were security detainees to whom the criterion of time served did not apply, while another 180 prisoners had yet to serve two-thirds of their sentences.

The state also told the court that prisoners released in previous deals are not among the 500 to be released today, and that every prisoner who is released will be required to sign a statement in which he will undertake not to play any part in future terror activities.

“The release of the prisoners constitutes part of a comprehensive move in which the government agreed to release Palestinian prisoners so as to bolster the PA and its ability to act against the terror organizations,” Horin said. “Therefore, the state believes that the release of the prisoners could prevent future terror attacks and put an end to the cycle of violence.”

Horin’s statements evoked a response from Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, who said that the release of terrorists did not help to combat terror, but merely shows that the PA has made achievements.

The representative for the petitioners, attorney Naftali Wertzberger, argued that the release “undermines the rule of law,” adding that “freeing prisoners who have not served even half of their sentences will show that justice hasn’t been done.”

Palestinian women ululated with joy and gunmen fired into the air to welcome hundreds of prisoners who returned home Monday in the largest Israeli prison release in nearly a decade.

Israel released 500 Palestinian security prisoners Monday, as part of a package of goodwill gestures to the Palestinian Authority and its chairman, Mahmoud Abbas.

Crowds swarmed around buses ferrying the prisoners from five drop-off points on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, where they underwent final checks by Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials, to Palestinian towns. The freed prisoners smiled broadly and flashed V-for-victory signs.

Each prisoner was required to sign a pledge declaring that he would not engage in any future terrorist activity. The government approved the release of the prisoners earlier this month.

Israel plans to release an additional 400 prisoners within the next three months. A joint Israeli-Palestinian ministerial committee will decide which prisoners will be freed in the second round.

On Sunday, 16 Palestinians who had been deported to the Gaza Strip, most of them administrative detainees, were allowed to return to the West Bank with 38 members of their families.

Another group of 39 deportees to the Gaza Strip and overseas, who were holed up in the Church of the Nativity, have also been granted permission to return to the West Bank.

On Sunday, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition against the prisoner release. The Almagor organization, which represents victims of terror, had filed the petition on the grounds that only 200 of the 500 had served two-thirds of their sentences.

The Supreme Court on Sunday is scheduled to hear a petition filed by the Almagor organization seeking to block the scheduled release of 500 Arab terrorists from Israeli prisons.

The organization is also planning a vigil of terror victims outside the IDF’s Ofir base from where many of the terrorists are scheduled to be released on Monday.

The High Court of Justice will hear a petition Sunday against the impending release of some of the 500 Palestinian prisoners Israel is slated to free, Israel Radio reported Friday.

The petition comes after the High Court rejected a separate request, filed by the family members of terror victims, on Thursday.

The Almagor organization, which represents victims of Arab terror, is requesting that the court prevent the release of prisoners who have not expressed regret for their actions and committed to staying away from terrorism.

The group is also opposed to the release of 100 of the prisoners because they have not served two-thirds of their sentences. Israel had previously set the two-thirds rule as a condition for release, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed that Israel should retain that standard in principle while allowing room for change on a case-by-case basis.

On Thursday, the High Court rejected a separate petition against the prisoner release.

That petition was filed by family members of Israelis killed in terror attacks carried out by Palestinians who had been freed from Israeli jails in previous deals with the Palestinian Authority.

Justices Aharon Barak and Mishael Cheshin, who heard the petition on Wednesday, said the petitioners did not sufficiently prove that the government’s decision to release the Palestinian prisoners was unreasonable enough to justify the court’s intervention.

An IDF force yesterday spotted two armed terrorists approaching the Jewish community of Bracha, overlooking Shechem in the Shomron. The soldiers opened fire, killing both terrorists.

One of the two would-be murderers was Atzam Mantzur, 29. He was apprehended by Israel in October 2001, but was later freed from prison in January 2004 by the Sharon government as part of an exchange for captured Israeli Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three IDF soldiers murdered by Hizbullah.

The other terrorist was 24-year-old Mahyub Yusef Kiny. Both terrorists were members of the PLO’s Tanzim terror group.

After extensive searches, a 20-lb. roadside bomb was discovered today in that same area, along the road leading to Bracha. The bomb was to be detonated using a cellular phone, but was neutralized by police sappers, preventing what could have been a devastating attack on school buses and other vehicles entering and leaving the community.

As this was going on, Israel released the names of the 500 prisoners scheduled for release next week. Victims of terror attacks were given 48 hours to file petitions against the release of specific prisoners, but Israel’s Supreme Court rejected all such requests. In an unprecedented rendering of a political opinion, Supreme Court Judge Mishael Heshin gave an endorsement of the practice of releasing prisoners, telling petitioners Wednesday that he thinks the prisoner release will advance peace.

The Cabinet stipulated that no terrorists with “blood on their hands” would be released in the first release, and in fact none of those on the current list murdered anyone. What differentiates between those being released and those excluded, however, is only whether their particular attack actually succeeded in killing Jews. The Almagor Terror Victims Association notes that many of those who have been released in previous years return to their terrorist ways.

Over 40 of the terrorists included in the upcoming release carried out shooting attacks with the intention of murdering Israelis, and several were involved in planning bombings. Included are such terrorists as Amjad Bahti, who was sentenced to 46 months for trying to plant a bomb, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade Mahdi A-Rahim, who was imprisoned two years ago for shooting at Israeli soldiers.

Many of those to be released worked as, and will again become, PA para-military policemen.

The list of those to be released, alongside a partial list of the crimes of which they were convicted, can be viewed on the web site of the Israel Prison Service.

The Almagor organization, representing victims of Arab terror, has released a statement condemning the decision to permit the return of the exiled Church of the Nativity terrorists, a move they say will result in renewed terrorism.

The organization plans to take steps towards removing the immunity agreement granted to the terrorists so they may be held accountable for their murderous acts.

Participants at last night’s emergency meeting of the Almagor organization of terror victims decided to hold a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday in opposition to government plans to release nine hundred Arab terrorists.

Organization officials are indicating the protest will be the first action in their effort to prevent the release of terrorists. They are also demanding the government present them with a list of names of the prisoners to be included in the release.