Israeli Protesters Slam Palestinian Prisoner Release

Israeli Protesters Slam Palestinian Prisoner Release

Euronews

2013-10-29

Outside a jail in the West Bank, some 2,000 Israelis have protested at the imminent release of 26 Palestinian prisoners.

They are the latest batch of inmates that Israel is letting go as part of US-sponsored Middle East peace talks.

Demonstrators outside the Ofer Prison near Ramallah denounced the move as an insult to victims.

“The message is not only to our government, it is also to the Europeans, to the government of the United States,” said Meir Indor, Chairman of the Almagor Terror Association in Israel. “They are asking us what they do not do there. They do not release terrorists.”

“Cruel murderers, as these ones who killed with knives and axes, belong behind bars,” said protester Lizi Hanaery. “Our government betrayed us. It is a betrayal to release such murderers.”

Friends and relatives held pictures of victims.

But the families of those being freed take a different view. For them the prisoners are heroes in a struggle for statehood.

Peace talks have showed few obvious signs of progress since they resumed in the summer.