Palestinians celebrate release of 477 prisoners

The releases come as implementation of a landmark swap announced a week ago between Israel and the Gaza based militant Islamic group. The deal calls for the release of an additional 550 Palestinian prisoners in two months, making it the highest price Israel has ever paid for the release of one person. That is a major gain for Hamas which was the recipient of effusive thanks here from many families of those released.Later, at the Tel Nof military base in Israel, he was greeted by a buoyant Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told his parents, Noam and Aviva “I have brought your son home.”In Ramallah, thousands welcomed 117 of the released prisoners, with many people waving Palestinian and Hamas flags. Moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas greeted them as “freedom fighters and holy warriors” and called for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a leader from his Fatah faction, who is among several nationalist luminaries whose release Hamas was unable to secure. But Mr Abbas could not undo the sense that yesterday was a victory for Hamas’s path of armed struggle over his own espousal of diplomacy.Referring to the ratio of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners for Shalit and the fact that more than 5000 prisoners remain in Israeli jails, Raja Abu Rub told The Scotsman: “We are telling a joke, that people want four more Shalits and then we will get all the prisoners out.”In Gaza, prisoners embraced and shook hands with Hamas leaders at the Rafah border crossing. Tens of thousands celebrated at a rally that quickly turned into a Hamas show of strength.In Ramallah, Hamas leader Mohammed Ahmad, himself a former prisoner, said: “The way Hamas got out the prisoners proves to all the people of Palestine that negotiation is not the only way to free these prisoners. There are also other ways, maybe by kidnapping soldiers.”