Palestinian terrorists released during hostage-ceasefire deals should be allowed to return to the territories to reunite with their families, officials from the Palestinian Liberation Organization asserted online last week.
"After the crime of arrest comes the crime of deportation. These heroes, who have paid a high price with their lives and bodies, continue to pay a heavy price today as they see their children and families only through phone cameras. They are unable to experience life's moments with them, which has created a pain of longing in their hearts that endangers their mental state and their daily lives," PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Director Raed Abu Al-Humus wrote.
Al-Humus replaced Qadura Fares in February last year after his predecessor reportedly took issue with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s now-largely unfulfilled commitment to end pay-for-slay payments for terrorists.
Despite replacing Fares, Al-Humus is a member of the board of trustees of the Palestinian National Economic Empowerment Institution (PNEEI), the body that has now replaced the pay-for-slay payments with a welfare system of coverage.
He added, "The press conference organized by the deported prisoners to Gaza, which represents all deported prisoners in all their places of residence, is a humanitarian message to the international community and all the free people of the world, that you have a great humanitarian responsibility to end this forced separation between the deportees and their families, and that this separation between them by the decisions of the hateful Israeli occupation authorities is unacceptable."
Released prisoners hold event seeking international pressure
Released terrorists organized the event 'Cry of the Released Prisoners' event on June 6, hoping that international media attention could incite the United Nations and other foreign powers to allow released prisoners to cross through territories, according to released prisoner Jalal Al-Faqih, who was sentenced to life in prison for his participation in the second intifada.
The event was held outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunus, according to Al-Faqih’s Facebook post.
In an interview Al-Faqih did with the Turkish-state funded media site TRT World, the released prisoner claimed he was supposed to be deported to Egypt, where he has family, but was instead released in Gaza.
From Nablus, Al-Faqih complained of a lack of support in Gaza and his inability to spend time with his elderly parents. He claimed the Red Cross originally promised that he would be transferred to Egypt, but such a movement never took place.
Sameer Zaquot told the Turkish site that the transfer constituted a war crime under the Geneva Convention, as it was considered forced deportation.
While the issue of Israel’s security was of great concern during the hostage-ceasefire negotiations, leading a number of Arab states to accept the responsibility of accepting the released terrorists, Palestinian Media Watch founder Itamar Marcus told The Jerusalem Post that he believed international bodies would deprioritize such concerns in favor of Palestinian prisoner wishes.
“Sadly, there's a very good chance that the UN and the so-called human rights organizations will support the Palestinian Authority project to have terrorist murderers returned to the PA areas,” he commented. “UN officials have already described the October 7th atrocities as a Palestinian response to suffering, and the so-called human rights organizations have consistently blamed Israel. Their rationalization is that since Israel is the evil imperialist state, Palestinians have a right to ‘resist,’ which is their euphemism for terror.”
Former Israeli official points to European praise for Marwan Barghouti
Noting the seemingly widespread embrace of convicted Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti throughout Europe, Marcus said that such a development would be unsurprising.
“We merely have to look at how human rights organizations and European countries have embraced mass murderer Marwan Barghouti,” he asserted. “This is a terrorist convicted of five murders and responsible for many more, and yet voices in Europe have turned him into a hero and have been demanding his release from prison. Some places have even given an honorary citizenship."
“It might not be immediately, but certainly in the not-too-distant future, we're going to be hearing voices around the world calling for these terrorist murderers to be returned to the PA areas.”