The Gaza Strip and West Bank gave a jubilant welcome today to hundreds of Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit, held for five years by the enclave’s Islamist terrorist rulers, Hamas.
Fire-crackers, klaxons and cheering carloads of flag-waving young men raised the noise level steadily in Gaza city as thousands converged on a central square for a mass rally with speeches scheduled by Hamas leaders and well-known militants just liberated in the swap mediated by Egypt.
In Ramallah, thousands packed into the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency to greet prisoners released into the West Bank. President Mahmoud Abbas and Hassan Youssef, a senior member of the Hamas group, both delivered speeches in a rare show of national unity.
“We thank God for your return and your safety,” Abbas said, greeting the prisoners. “You are freedom fighters and holy warriors for the sake of God and the homeland.” He also said that Israel had promised him to free more prisoners following the two-stage swap. It was the first mention of such a release.
“We hope soon to see [Marwan] Barghouti and [Ahmed] Saadat, as well as every prisoner freed,” Abbas told the thousands of cheering supporters and relatives, referring to two high-profile prisoners who Israel had refused to release.
Gaza declared a national holiday and schools were closed.
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
And this is the more moderate Abbas. Isn’t it clear that Israel has no “peace partner”, just pieces partner?
These Pales are on the maturity level of 5 year olds. The more they are given the more they demand. They dont ever talk about a future. Because small children rely on their parents to work that out for them. And their belief in Hashem is totally fake. Hashem is good, and has deep but always home cheshboinois. Whilst these imature, iresponsible murderous crybabies are the exact opposite of what Hashem is. And their using hashems name for their perverted cause is another form of hijacking his name for the exact opposite of what he stands for. And these are the moderate partners the world leaders including Obama expect us to negotiate with. Give and take, and expect a long term sultuion. Tell me Mr Obama, Mr Bush, Mr Clinton is this a joke or what? Are you guys telling me you really expect us to trust these murderous irresponsible imature babies. That never keep their word for long? And you guys call Mr Netanyahu untrustworthy but Abas, and AraFat are trustworthy and thats not blatant antisemitisim?