Freed Palestinian Prisoners Stranded

As part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israel released 200 prisoners on Saturday 25th January. Most were released into territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, but 70 were deported to Egypt because they have been convicted of killing Israelis in terrorist attacks.

Amin Choumane, head of the Palestinian Higher Committee for the Follow-up of Prisoners’ Affairs, said that after travelling through Egypt, those 70 prisoners would be able to choose between final destinations of Algeria, Turkey or Tunisia.

However, news emerged on Sunday 2nd February that they are now stranded in a hotel in Cairo, because the countries that said they were willing to host them have not formally agreed to do so. The deportees are not allowed to leave that hotel and say that it has been like moving from an Israeli prison to an Egyptian prison.

Israel’s Ynet have heard from the Palestinian Prisoner Authority that no Arab country has agreed to receive even one of these expelled prisoners.

The Qatari Prime Minister and Turkish Foreign Minister have announced that their countries will accept some of them but have not specified how many.

This reluctance in Middle Eastern countries to receive convicted terrorists is now reflected in a Jordanian ultimatum to Hamas, demanding the immediate relocation of Ahlam al-Tamimi, who was released in 2011 as part of the exchange for Gilad Shalit.

If Hamas does not do so, Jordan says it will extradite her to US authorities, who have maintained a reward of up to $5 million to bring her to trial for her part in a terrorist attack on an Israeli restaurant. That attack killed 15 people, including seven children and two Americans, as well as injuring more than 120 others.

It seems that most Arab nations would prefer these terrorists had stayed in Israeli prisons, for fear that they will carry out more terrorist attacks wherever they go.

UPDATE 4th February

Fifteen of those prisoners have now arrived in Turkey. They are the first to be accepted by a third country other than Egypt, as the ceasefire and hostage release agreement bans prisoners convicted of violent attacks from being released in the so-called ‘West Bank’ or the Gaza Strip.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said,

“We think it would be beneficial for some regional countries to take a role in this matter
... Egypt and Qatar would play a role in that respect.”