Palestinians in Ramallah and Gaza city celebrate the release of 477 prisoners in the first phase of a prisoner exchange with Israel.
A released prisoner embraces a family member in Ramallah (photo: Omar Rahman)
An outpouring of emotion accompanied the return of Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank on Tuesday, as a very large crowd assembled at the Muqa’ata in Ramallah to welcome home nearly 100 prisoners who were released as part of an exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
Red and teary-eyed faces could be seen everywhere as people embraced their relatives and celebrated with others over the return of many prisoners who never thought they would take another step outside a prison wall.
“I do not have any relatives being released today, but I believe that all the prisoners are our brothers and sisters, so we are happy to come here and see them return home,” says Khowla Abed, an engineer from Ramallah’s sister city of El-Bireh.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian dignitaries delivered speeches to the throngs of people who had collected inside the presidential compound. Abbas welcomed the prisoners as freedom fighters, lauded reconciliation, congratulated Egypt for its role, and hinted at an exchange deal of his own that he is working out with Israel. Considering Fatah is not holding any Israeli prisoners, one can only imagine that any possible exchange would happen on the political or diplomatic level, maybe in exchange for a return to negotiations.
It was a joyous scene that trumped politics for a brief moment. Security officials had appropriated any signs of partisanship at the main entrance, snatching away Fatah flags, as well as the more rare Hamas ones. Inside Palestinian flags were handed out to those who had not brought their own, along with the banners promoting the statehood bid of President Abbas, which have become ubiquitous in the West Bank over the past two months.
It was a markedly different event than that which took place in the Gaza Strip, where an estimated 200,000 people were in attendance. Images from Gaza showed Palestinians celebrating in a sea of green Hamas flags, intermixed with yellow Fatah ones as well.
Another 500+ prisoners will be released by Israel at a later date in accordance with the arrangement agreed upon by the parties. Many more, around 5,000, remain imprisoned in Israel.