A volte ritornano

Negli ultimi giorni Israele ha reso nota la decisione di liberare alcune centinaia di palestinesi accusati di reati "minori" connessi alla cosiddetta "seconda Intifada" palestinese - in pratica una vera e propria guerra a suon di attentati suicidi contro civili israeliani inermi - come gesto di buona volontà nei confronti della nuova dirigenza dell'ANP e in considerazione dei passi avanti (sia pure, per ora, più formali che sostanziali) fatti dal processo di pace.

Questo, a giudicare da questa notizia, potrebbe rivelarsi un errore, o quantomeno un gesto prematuro:

Freed prisoner killed on terror mission


A former security prisoner released in January 2004 in the deal struck with Hizbullah to secure the return of the bodies of three soldiers and businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum was one of two gunmen shot and killed by soldiers last Tuesday night while attempting an attack at Har Bracha, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Atsem Mansour, 29, a Fatah Tanzim member from the Balata refugee camp was imprisoned in Israel between October 2001 and January 2004 for his involvement in terrorism. He was one of 462 security prisoners released in exchange for Tannenbaum and the bodies of Staff-Sgts. Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Sawayid.

Details were revealed as preparations got under way for the release of 500 security prisoners who will be freed Monday morning at five West Bank checkpoints and at the Erez crossing in the Gaza Strip as a gesture to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

All the prisoners will be gathered at the Ketziot Prison and bused to the Salem and Jalame crossings in Samaria, the entry point near Be'erotayim not far from Tulkarm, Tarkumiya near Hebron and Beituniya near Ramallah. Those headed for the Gaza Strip will be bused to the Erez crossing and released.

While Israel initially agreed to release 900 security detainees, only the names of the 500 have been published on the Prisons Service Web site and examined by Justice Ministry officials. Security officials said the remaining 400 have yet to be approved, nor has a time for their release been decided.

The security establishment's most current statistics relate to the May 1985 "Jibril deal" in which more than 1,000 prisoners were released: Of the 238 of them released to the West Bank and Gaza, 48 percent, or 114, resumed their terrorist activities.

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