Palestinians continue to express anger over yesterday’s prison raid. Early on Wednesday, Palestinian militants released the last four hostages they had taken after Tuesday's raid of a Palestinian controlled prison in Jericho by Israeli forces. The Israelis captured a militant wanted for the murder of an Israeli minister who the Palestinian Authority had threatened to free.
The final four hostages, two French citizens, one Canadian and a South Korean journalist, were escorted to an official Palestinian security building in Gaza City after security officials worked through the night to gain their release.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the raid an 'unforgivable crime' and an 'insult to the Palestinian people' as he toured the ruins of the jail complex.
Many Palestinians were convinced that there was coordination between American and British monitors and the Israelis. Abbas noted, 'I'm giving the facts. They [the monitors] left at 9:20 AM, and the Israelis came in at 9:30 AM. How can we explain that?'
Many Palestinians felt that the raid further weakened the standing of Abbas in the Palestinian territories.
'This was a severe blow to the Palestinian Authority and to Abu Mazen [Abbas] personally,' Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, an Abbas supporter, told Reuters.
The target of the raid was Ahmed Saadat, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The U.S. State Department classifies the PFLP as a terrorist organization. Saadat is accused of planning the murder of an Israeli minister in 2001. Four of the other militants captured by the Israelis yesterday have been accused of carrying out the killing.
The Israeli government has said it plans to put the five men on trial for the murder.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Army Radio, 'I have no doubt that they will stay with us for a long time.'
Incoming Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the militant group Hamas had indicated he would free Saadat who was held in Palestinian custody as part of a deal brokered with the late Yasser Arafat in 2002. The British and American monitors were part of the agreement.
The monitors left because they said that security arrangements at the prison were lacking and they feared for their own safety.
State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli said there was no coordination between the Americans and the Israelis but explained that the monitors from both the U.S. and Britain had complained about the lack of security at the prison throughout 2005. Ereli said there was 'a consistent and painstaking effort on our part and on the part of the British to work with the Palestinians to get them to hold up their end of the bargain.'
A senior Bush administration official told the Washington Post,' that the [security] 'situation really, truly was becoming untenable. One can say there was an inevitability to this crisis.'
At this point, Palestinian anger over the raid does not appear to be abating. Meanwhile, the Israeli government is happy that they captured a man wanted for murder and hope to bring him to justice.
