Olmert misleading world over prisoner release

Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouthi on Tuesday described the freeing of 429 Palestinian captives as an attempt by Zionist regime Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to mislead global public opinion about the true intent of 'Israel.'

 

Barghouthi explained that since the last prisoner release on October 1, Zionist regime has abducted 808 new prisoners, including 22 children.

 

"This means that the liberation of 429 prisoners is not even a return to the situation of 2 months ago. The total number of Palestinian prisoners is in fact increasing," he said in a statement.

 

"The international community should not be misled: the current Zionists' government is no partner for peace," the statement added.

 

Barghouthi underlined that this "release some and at the same time arrest even more" behaviour was common practice for Zionist regime, which sees Palestinian prisoners as "inexpensive bargaining chips."

 

Zionist regime's military carries on a relentless kidnap campaign against Palestinians and these 'goodwill gestures' never really bring down the number of Palestinians detained, currently standing at about 11,000," the statement added.

 

The Palestinian National Initiative is calling for the immediate release of all captives and the end of the siege of the Gaza Strip.