Palestinian Mother>6 impresoned Sons and

A Palestinian mother hungers for jailed sons' return                     

                                                                                                                         by Selim Saheb Ettaba Sun Jul 2, 6:52 PM ET
               
   RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Latifa Abu Hmed gazes at a photograph of her seven sons. One is dead and six are in jail. For her it is unfathomable that militants should free a captured Israeli soldier while nearly 10,000 Palestinians languish in Israeli prisons.

   "I have six sons in prison, four of them for life," says Abu Hmed, sitting in her decrepit home in the         &nb sp; West Bank refugee camp of Al-Amari.
   "My son, Abdelmonem, was a member of Hamas. He was assassinated in 1994 by Israeli special forces," she says.
   "The others, who are in prison, were in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades," an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's          ;  Fatah party. They were arrested in 2002.
   "A martyr is a martyr. He is buried in the earth and is joined with God. But prisoners are living martyrs," she says.
   The distraught mother rejects          ;  Israel's call for the unconditional release of the soldier captured on June 25 by Gaza militants who infiltrated the Jewish state and who have demanded freedom for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel has rejected the captors' demands and vowed not to negotiate for 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, who was seized during a dawn assault on an Israeli army post in which two other soldiers and two militants were also killed.
   "Even children know that we should not give up the soldier without getting anything in return," she says.
   "I am not only concerned for my sons. There are others who have spent more than 20 years in prison in Israel," she says.
Militants from the armed wing of Hamas were among those who claimed responsibility for the attack. The groups outlined their demands in a statement issued Saturday, calling for all detained leaders of Palestinian movements to be released.
The statement also called for elderly and sick detainees to be freed, and reiterated an earlier demand for the release of women and juvenile prisoners by Israel.
In the nearby village of Kaubar, Assef al-Barghuti believes in the possibility of an "exchange, especially of the oldest prisoners", despite Israel's stated refusal to negotiate.
Soon after Shalit's capture, Abbas ordered prime minister Ismail Haniya and his own security services to launch an immediate search to locate and release the soldier.
Abbas, the moderate president whose former ruling Fatah party was ousted from power after Hamas won a landslide election victory, has been locked in a power struggle with the new government since it took office in March.
"It is a shame that the Palestinian president could speak like this," says the Barghuti. His uncle has been in Israeli jails ever since the 29-year-old was born, having taken part in a "Fatah operation that cost soldiers' lives".
   He does not elaborate.
"Israel refuses to release (my uncle) because he has blood on his hands. True, we are killing them, but they have been killing us by the hundreds. Why should their blood be more precious than ours?"
   According to Palestinian figures, Israel is holding 9,400 Palestinians.
The issue of Palestinian prisoners and the pursuit of West Bank settlements by Israelis are two of the hottest issues among the Palestinian population.
In May 2000, particularly violent clashes broke out after prisoner demonstrations, in a sign of the violence to come when the second Palestinian intifada erupted only months later.
"The prisoners do not sacrifice themselves for their families but for all the people, and to fight against occupation," Abu Hmed says.
"If the Israelis wants to arrest someone, let them arrest the officials, these leaders who do not even ask about the families of those who have been sent to prison," she says.
Monthly Palestinian government payouts to the families of prisoners -- 225 dollars for single prisoners and 270 dollars for those with children -- have halted because of US and EU aids cuts following the Islamist Hamas's rise to power.
Complicating the situation further, Hamas prisoner affairs minister Wasfi Kabha is himself now in jail, one of eight cabinet members arrested by Israel last week in a swoop on Hamas political leaders.
   "We have not received anything since February. Hamas has tried, but there is no money," Abu Hmed says.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060702/wl_mideast_afp/mideastu nrest_060702225230

" Because of this, I feel her sons are in the correct place."

 

you are really silly and pathetic if you believe they are in the right place. No wonder that the zionists never stop murdering Palestinian. Because there are people like you who live among us.

 

when i saw your username (herjihad) i thought you mature, but when i read your reply (i read it a lot of times to read between the lines!!) i realized how stupid you are!!

"suicide bombers" shuold not be shot, because those who are imposing checkpoints and occupaying us and carrying weapons should be slain.

it is those people who sacrificexd their lives for the sake of Palestine and humanity that poeple now talk about some thing called Palestine. They have shouted loud enough to make even the deaf people hear their voice.

May Allah shower their souls with mercy.

Brother Palestine, please refrain from personal attacks.

Guideline 15. We will not tolerate personal attacks on participants from ANY Community (personal attacks are defined as comments that reflect upon the person instead of their opinion).

Wassalaam.