Now there will be peace: Israel releases 200 more Palestinian Arab prisoners

Olmert isnt the only one that needs to go, the whole government needs to go and be rebuilt from the ground up.

If Israel's next government is as insane as Olmert's then the US should cut Israel loose. No country stupid enough to replace one horrible government with another should have anyone's support.

Sorry for interjecting logic into the conversation, but if Abbas is the "man-of-peace" that Condi claims he is, why would he be bolstered by the release of terrorists fighting to prevent any peace other than the peace that would presumably occur (of course it wouldn't as power, tribe and religious struggles for spoils and dominance as elsewhere in the Muslim world would break out) once Israel is destroyed?

And if Abbas' purported followers need the release of terrorists (who they will turn into heroes) in order to back him, then what good is any deal he signs with Israel since obviously he doesn't have the legitimacy of a peace-loving and peace-supporting population behind him?

This leads to three possibilities:

1) Abbas isn't a man-of-peace, but someone who remains committed to the destruction of Israel, and wants the terrorists released to win him support and supporters for his "slow jihad" against Israel.

2) Abbas is open to--and perhaps genuinely wants peace with Israel--but doesn't have the popular support yet to enact his policies as the Palestinian population is bent on jihad, not peace and co-existence with Israel.

3) Abbas is genuinely seeking peace and has the majority of Palestinians behind him, but he doesn't have the ability to defeat the terrorists in his own community, thus he would be unable to enforce the provisions of any peace agreement.

The evidence overwhelmingly supports scenario number 1 above. But even if you believe that scenario 2 or 3 were more accurate descriptions of the situation, how would releasing violent terrorists committed to jihad against Israel help strengthen the chances for peace, let alone bolster Abbas' supposed quest to serve as a peacemaker?

If you click on the 'AP' link provided, you will not be taken to the text posted above, but to a longer, updated version of the story.

You will also discover that the report has come to AP from local Arab Muslims.

At the top of the story the byline reads: "By DALIA NAMMARI, Associated Press Writer" and at the bottom there is this additional note - "AP correspondent Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah contributed to this report."

Now, we all know just how 'free' the press is in Arab-occupied, Muslim-dominated Judea and Samaria aka 'the west bank'.

How many words in this report should we take at face value? "The" and 'and"?

I shall now amuse myself, and everyone else here, by writing what AP *might* have written, were they not wholly dependent on Arab Muslim propagandists like 'Dalia' and 'Mohammed', and were they not in any case wholly blinded by Arab Muslim Big Lies.

'RAMALLAH, Samaria - Israel freed nearly 200 'Palestinian' Arab Muslim criminals and jihadi terrorists on Monday — including a jihad terror mastermind from the 1970s — in a goodwill gesture just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began her latest "peace mission" to the region.

'The prisoners received a hero's welcome upon their return to Arab-occupied Samaria, where thousands of Arab Muslims joined celebrations at the Ramallah headquarters of local Arab Muslim leader, President Mahmoud Abbas and elsewhere throughout Judea and Samaria.

"We will not rest until the prisoners are freed and the jails are empty," Abbas told the cheering crowd.

'The prisoners arrived in Ramallah after being released at an Israeli military checkpoint near Jerusalem. The prisoners, some waving black-and-white checkered keffiyeh headdresses as they stepped off Israeli buses, kissed the ground before boarding Arab vehicles.

'Among the 198 local Arab jihadists freed was Said al-Atba, who served 31 years of a life sentence for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed one Jewish woman and wounded dozens of Jewish civilians in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.

'Al-Atba, 57, was the longest serving Arab Muslim jihadist inmate in Israel and is widely seen by local Arabs as a symbol of all the prisoners.

"I feel like I've been born again," al-Atba told The Associated Press, but noted that thousands of prisoners remain behind. "We salute them and we must do all that we can to liberate them."

'His brother, Hisham, came from Saudi Arabia, where he works, to greet him, saying he felt "great joy" and "we had lost hope that my brother would be released." Al-Atba's sister, Raida, said she prepared her brother's favorite food, stuffed vine leaves and zucchini.

'Israel said the release was a gesture meant to bolster Abbas and his administration and give a boost to the slow-moving peace talks with the supposedly ‘moderate’ local Arab Muslim leader.

'"It's not easy for Israel to release prisoners. Some of the individuals being released today are guilty of direct involvement in the murder of innocent civilians," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. "We believe this action can support the negotiation process and create goodwill."

'The fate of the roughly 9,000 Arab criminals and jihadists in Israeli jails is emotional for local Arab Muslims, many of whom know somebody behind bars or have served time themselves.

'Abbas, who is struggling to show his people the fruits of the peace talks, has repeatedly urged Israel to carry out a large-scale release.

'Upon her arrival in Tel Aviv, Rice praised the Israeli gesture. "This is something that matters a lot to the Palestinians [sic], it matters a lot to the Palestinian [sic] people and it is obviously a sign of goodwill," she said, calling on both sides to carry out more confidence-building measures.

'Rice, making her seventh trip to the region since peace talks were relaunched last year, has been trying to broker a peace agreement by the end of the year.

'Speaking to reporters while flying to Tel Aviv, she acknowledged it was unlikely the sides would meet their year-end target, but said all sides remain committed to that goal.

'The talks have been complicated by Israeli political turmoil and gang warfare among different Arab Muslim jihadist factions.

'Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is battling a corruption investigation, has said he will step down after his party chooses a new leader next month. It remains unclear who his successor will be, and whether the government will be able to stay in power.

'On the Arab side, the Hamas combat jihadist group seized control of the Gaza Strip from Abbas' forces last year. Israel has said it will not carry out any peace deal until Abbas regains control over Gaza. Both Israel and the U.S. have labeled Hamas a terrorist group.

'Hamas is demanding Israel free hundreds of Arab jihadist prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a young Jewish soldier kidnapped by Arab Muslim jihadists in a cross-border raid two years ago and who has been held virtually incommunicado in an unknown location in Arab territory ever since. Whereas Arab prisoners held by Israel receive visits from family and from human rights bodies such as the Red Cross/ Red Crescent, the jihadists have denied all such access to Gilad Shalit."

One is tempted to add adjectives such as 'futile' in front of phrases such as 'goodwill gesture', but that would be mixing an opinion with the facts.

"...moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas."

You mean the same moderate president who has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction?

I need to start tuning into my local liberal news network!

Israel makes concessions.
Palestinians see a sign of weakness; demand more concessions.

Israel is dying! One more act of treason by the self-hating Jew Olmert! The ovenwalkers of the Holocaust have retuned! They will now supply men and arms for their own destruction! When will the Jews of the Israel and the world realize that nobody cares! The Jews ALWAYS stand alone! It is time for the destruction of Gaza or Syria or Iran with nuclear weapons! That should be enough to show the enemy that Israel is here to stay! ANY delay will be cause for Israel's destruction! Fight or die!

DDA said:'Hamas is demanding Israel free hundreds of Arab jihadist prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a young Jewish soldier kidnapped by Arab Muslim jihadists in a cross-border raid two years ago and who has been held virtually incommunicado in an unknown location in Arab territory ever since. Whereas Arab prisoners held by Israel receive visits from family and from human rights bodies such as the Red Cross/ Red Crescent, the jihadists have denied all such access to Gilad Shalit."

Golden rule of warfare against jihadists: Respect their human rights to the exact extent and degree that they respect your human rights. Treat their POWs according to the Geneva conventions, to the exact extent and degree that they treat your POWs. (Not my words exactly, but Arun Shourie's. Who's he? He's a Hindu who wrote a scholarly book The World of Fatwas. It's worth a read)

In the beginning there may be bravado about true muslims being unafraid of death and martyrdom blah blah blah. But in the long run it will get kinda demoralizing for the jihadis to see their old comrades beheaded on video in remakes of their own videos. Otherwise civilization as we know it will become its own worst enemy.

Hedgehog, GREAT idea!