By Xinhua
Ramallah : A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday welcomed an Israeli decision to release 90 Palestinian prisoners, and demanded the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
“There are more than 11,000 Palestinians and some Arabs held in Israeli jails, some of them are patients and aged, and some have spent more than 30 years there,” the spokesman said in a statement.
On Sunday, the Israeli government initially approved the release of 90 Palestinians as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Muslims’ holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Islamist Hamas movement, which took control of the Gaza Strip from pro-Abbas forces, criticized the Israeli move to free the 90 prisoners, a majority of them from Abbas’ Fatah movement.
“Israel is following the revolving door policy in arresting and releasing Palestinians, whenever it wants and frees whoever it wants. I believe that this is not accepted by our people,” said Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza.