President Abbas: No peace agreement without the release of all prisoners

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared that the joy of liberating 104 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails will be repeated a third and a fourth time, congratulating the freed prisoners. However he also said that the joy will not be whole unless all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails.

Abbas specifically addressed prisoner Karim Younis, saying that “freedom is near. The Palestinian leadership will continue its efforts to free all the prisoners, whatever their political affiliation or places of origin.”

Abbas also promised that “there will be no peace agreement with Israel until all prisoners are freed from Israeli jails. I will dedicate my life to releasing the prisoners, despite the false accusations that the deal is sealed at the expense of Palestinian lands,” referrring to reports that Israel’s new settlement construction in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank is a direct response to the prisoner release.

Meanwhile, freed prisoner Rizq Salah said that he had forgotten his thirty years in captivity when he saw the way people received him. He stressed that the Palestinians will remain a thorn in the side of the occupation, asserting that: “The Palestinians are a free people and will continue their revolution to reclaim their lands.”