RELEASE 400 PRISONERS IS A JOKE

"The release of 400 prisoners is a joke," jailed Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti told the Knesset's Committee on the Interior and the Environment that visited his detention center, along with Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar on Sunday.

Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in jail.
Photo: AP [file]

The terror leader told Committee Chairman MK Ophir Paz-Pines that Israel could easily release 8,000 Palestinian detainees and added that those prisoners scheduled for release are to be freed in the coming months in any case.

The release of 429 Palestinian security prisoners is due to take place Monday morning after it was delayed by a day following a request by the Palestinian Authority. The move was approved by the cabinet before the Annapolis conference as a gesture to boost the standing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Barghouti told committee members at Haderim Prison near Netanya that Israel and the Palestinians were close to finding a solution and that the Palestinian side needed a "strong leader that can make decisions."

Barghouti complained to his visitors, who were accompanied by Israel Prisons Service (IPS) Chief Warden Benny Kaniak, that detainees were not permitted to make phone calls. When confronted with the fact that Yigal Amir, who assassinated former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, was allowed possession of a cellular phone while in jail, Kaniak replied that the IPS was the only body struggling to rid Amir of this privilege.