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Pre-Oslo Prisoners Still Obstacle To Palestinian-Israeli Talks

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli offer to release 50 of an estimated 107 prisoners detained before the signing of the Oslo Accords, an issue that continues to stall negotiation efforts.
Palestinian women hold pictures of their sons during a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails, in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 3, 2005. Candidates began signing up on Saturday for a Palestinian legislative election next month at which the ruling Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas will face its first major challenge from powerful Islamist faction Hamas. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel - RTR1A0J5

Amona Abed Rabo remembers the TV interview with Israeli President Shimon Peres quite well. Demonstrating with a photo of her son Issa Abed Rabo when US President Barack Obama visited Bethlehem, she repeated every question and answer of a TV interview with President Peres. She slows down and raises her voice when she gets to the section of the interview in which the architect of the Oslo Accords confirms his commitment to the release of Palestinians imprisoned before the Oslo Accords.

Some 107 Palestinian prisoners (some accounts say 103) arrested before September 1993 are still held in Israeli jails. The prisoners, who belong to the PLO’s Fatah movement, feel betrayed by Israel and their own leaders. Having been sent on military missions by their PLO leaders, these men are rotting in jail while the leaders who gave the orders for them have been free since 1993. Promises made by the Israelis, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have not been fulfilled.

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