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Palestinian security prisoners at the Meggido Prison in northern Israel. (Uriel Sinai / Getty Images / Archives)
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IDF chief opposes inclusion of Gazans in prisoner release
By Avi Issacharoff and Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: security prisoners 

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said on Monday that of the 441 Palestinian prisoners approved by the cabinet for release, he opposes freeing 16 of them, all Fatah members from the Gaza Strip. The rest are from the West Bank.

Ashkenazi was not invited to the cabinet discussion on the release, but told ministers of his opposition in a conversation outside the government conference room. He insisted that the release of the 16 Gaza prisoners would not help Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but would rather be considered a victory for Hamas.


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he release approved Monday is expected to take place before the upcoming U.S.-sponsored regional peace conference scheduled for next week in Annapolis, Maryland.

The move is seen as a gesture of goodwill to follow recent demands by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to free 2,000 security prisoners before the summit. While Israel has opposed this request, the bid has apparently won the support of the U.S. administration.

Most of the prisoners set for release are members of Fatah. A statement from the Prime Minister's Bureau before the cabinet decision noted that there has been no change in the criteria for the release of the prisoners, and among those freed there will be no Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants, or those who have been involved in the killing of Israelis.

Before the vote, Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman urged the cabinet not to approve the release, calling it an irresponsible and dangerous move.

"I don't think there's a single person who is rational, responsible, and who truly acts so as to defend his country's interests, who can vote in favor of the release," he told Army Radio on Monday.

"A few months ago we released a group of prisoners. The result was dismal," he said, adding: "They [the prisoners] didn't strengthen Abu Mazen [Abbas], they granted him no popularity, the great majority of them failed to turn in any weapons, and they failed to turn into Nobel Preace Prize laureates, to say the least."

Report: Half of inmates in Israeli jails are Palestinian
Palestinian security prisoners make up almost half of all prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Some 9,800 Palestinian security prisoners are incarcerated in Israeli prisons and the Prisons Service is expecting that their number will grow by nearly 800 to 10,580. Of the current prisoners, about 470 are residents of Israel, including East Jerusalem, and 81 are foreigners. The vast majority, 8,469, are residents of the West Bank, and 762 are from the Gaza Strip.

The data, provided to the defense establishment in anticipation of a possible prisoner release in exchange for Hamas-held Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, or as part of a goodwill gesture for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, also offered a breakdown according to militant affiliation.

Accordingly, Fatah leads with at least 4,800 prisoners from its ranks, with Hamas second at 2,546. There are 1,370 prisoners affiliated with Islamic Jihad, while 460 are from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and 120 from the smaller Democratic Front. The remainder are members of smaller groups or were part of an independent activity.

In recent years, responsibility for all security prisoners was passed to the Prisons Service from the IDF and the police. During the past seven years the number of security prisoners held in Prisons Service jails underwent a tenfold increase.

Security sources described the transfer of responsibility for holding security prisoners to the professional care of the Prisons Service as "highly successful."

There are 23,766 prisoners held in installations of the Prisons Service. Among them, 13,965 are held for criminal activity, and 2,068 of them are performing community service as part of their sentence.

The male population of Israel's prisons is 20,516, with 178 women prisoners, and 631 who are minors.

A total of 5,725 Jewish prisoners are serving sentences for criminal activity, 4,246 are Arab Muslims, 300 are Christians, 144 Bedouin, 136 Druze, 134 non-Arab Muslims, and 96 are classified as "other."

This is not their first time in prison for the majority of prisoners, due to recurrent criminal activity. This is the case for about 10,000 prisoners; 4,787 are serving a third prison term, while for 1,428 they have been imprisoned at least six times.

There is a constant rise in the number of prisoners and the Prisons Service is estimating that in 2008 there will be 10,580 security prisoners and 16,760 criminal felons.

The Service has 7,155 wardens, a warden-to-prisoner ratio much higher than what is common in the United States or Western Europe.

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      1.   Don`t do the crime if you can`t do the time 08:22  |  jd 19/11/07
      2.   PRISONER RELEASE WILL BE TAKEN AS SURRENDER, BRING MORE KIDNAPS) 08:39  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/11/07
      3.   CHANGE TITLE TO:CORRUPT GOVERNMENT likely to approve release of 09:01  |  THE TRUTH HURTS 19/11/07
      4.   WHY NOT 2.000??? 09:17  |  Robert 19/11/07
      5.   Release of jailed terrorists = Olmert bribing Arabs 09:50  |  Joseph E . 19/11/07
      6.   650,000 Pals imprisioned by israel since its CREATION 09:56  |  loopsided 19/11/07
      7.   where is Shalit? 09:59  |  KUTW 19/11/07
      8.   Reply to Joseph E. in Givatayim (Post No. 5) 10:15  |  Johnny Weintraub 19/11/07
      9.   Another Goodwill Gesture towards the elimination of Iserael? 10:37  |  Dagma 19/11/07
      10.   What about Gilad? 11:26  |  Avraham 19/11/07
      11.   Stop release of terroists 11:27  |  BARUCH HASHEM 19/11/07
      12.   400 -250 - 450? 11:29  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 19/11/07
      13.   Don`t Leave Annapolis without Demanding Shalit 11:47  |  Tzfonit 19/11/07
      14.   DISAPPOINTED IN BUSH!HE HASN`T LEARNED A THING! 11:54  |  NEW YORKER 19/11/07
      15.   Israelis Torturing Palestinian Children 12:38  |  Dav 19/11/07
      16.   Olmert does not give aTHOUGHT about Shali 12:41  |  Dolly 19/11/07
      17.   Who can know what words may come out of the mouth of Fools 13:06  |  Natasha 19/11/07
      18.   What about Gilad we all want to know. 13:16  |  Dolly 19/11/07
      19.   MAKING ROOM FOR OLMERT PERHAPS ? 13:17  |  Lou Knee 19/11/07
      20.   Israeli army kidnaps five civilians across West Bank 13:36  |  Dav 19/11/07
      21.   Wait until Shalit and the other Israeli hostages are free 13:52  |  Daniel 19/11/07
      22.   Prisoner releases never yield results, why foolishly stick to th 14:05  |  Yossi 19/11/07
      23.   Let AbbASS bolster himself. It is not our job!!! 14:06  |  Yossi 19/11/07
      24.   MORE THAN THIS NUMBER WERE KIDNAPPED ONLY THIS MONTH 14:11  |  TrippleJump 19/11/07
      25.   Kidnapping Palestinian men, women and childeren at checkpoints... 14:19  |  ME Observer 19/11/07
      26.   Nothing learnt from the past? 15:17  |  Jonathan S 19/11/07
      27.   no Annapolis without release of Shalit 15:21  |  peter 19/11/07
      28.   you will have ,peace of the cemetery g-d forbid 15:27  |  chaim schonbrun 19/11/07
      29.   To Triple Jump and ME Observer - You are deluded !!! 15:31  |  Yossi 19/11/07
      30.   The balance sheet of Ehud Olmert 15:34  |  Jonathan S 19/11/07
      31.   one Shallit = how many PALS??? 16:16  |  dav zee 19/11/07
      32.   how many Pals = one Shallit 16:19  |  dav zee 19/11/07
      33.   To TrippleJump # 24 - Pals kidnapped? for good reason 16:25  |  Natasha 19/11/07
      34.   Olmert`s amazing talent 16:40  |  Mark Lincoln 19/11/07
      35.   POLITICIANS, ACCEPT RECOMENDATIONS OF ARMY EXPERT OR RESIGN NOW!) 17:09  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/11/07
      36.   Where is the Jewish prisoners release!!??? 17:10  |  Simcha 19/11/07
      37.   Terrorists-All of them 17:10  |  Arthur 19/11/07
      38.   look at the facts and stop dreaming 17:12  |  Daniel 19/11/07
      39.   #34 Mark Lincoln 17:18  |  tbora 19/11/07
      40.   #34 Mark Lincoln 17:18  |  tbora 19/11/07
      41.   FREE GILAD SHALIT 17:19  |  ChanahS 19/11/07
      42.   LET MY PEOPLE GO ISRAELI PM! 17:34  |  VOICE of MOSES)))))) 19/11/07
      43.   To Jonathan S # 30 - Has Olmert gone MAD? 18:05  |  Terez 19/11/07
      44.   Olmert. WHERE ARE OUR BOYS? 18:05  |  bat yam 19/11/07
      45.   #7 Where is Shalit? 18:10  |  Observer 19/11/07
      46.   WAIT A MINUTE 18:22  |  Mark of Lewiston 19/11/07
      47.   Dav prefers propaganda to journalism 18:44  |  J 19/11/07
      48.   CURRENT NEGOTIATIONS 18:45  |  Mark of Lewiston 19/11/07
      49.   So, How many CHILDREN does Israel still in JAIL???!!!! 19:07  |  POP 19/11/07
      50.   Israelis shame the free world today ... 19:27  |  Dutch 19/11/07
      51.   FIRST GILAD SHALIT!!! FIRST GILAD SHALIT!!!! 19:27  |  tessa 19/11/07
      52.   To Dutch and Pop - get educated before you post 19:39  |  Yossi 19/11/07
      53.   No Shalit - No More Concessions after all 19:53  |  Tessa 19/11/07
      54.   RELASE ALL 9,000 PALESTINIANS MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN 20:13  |  Eric 19/11/07
      55.   #10, Avraham... 20:32  |  Silvienne 19/11/07
      56.   # 49 POP.....lots less then the US holds prisoner 20:34  |  Lynn 19/11/07
      57.   Tessa... 20:35  |  Silvienne 19/11/07
      58.   Eric # 54 ....How many kids in jail in France? 20:37  |  Lynn 19/11/07
      59.   #45, Observer... 20:38  |  Silvienne 19/11/07
      60.   Silverlene re #55 21:02  |  Adrian de Klerk 19/11/07
      61.   Enemy of the State 21:17  |  Jo Jo 19/11/07
      62.   Life is a two way street 21:36  |  Salty 19/11/07
      63.   If Israel wants credit for this... 22:21  |  Natallie Durson 19/11/07
      64.   Lunacy 23:34  |  Ron 19/11/07
      65.   if this is still the bible time.... 23:37  |  maria 19/11/07
      66.   they`re better off in the prison. 23:39  |  maria 19/11/07
      67.   Lunacy #64 00:28  |  Jo Jo 20/11/07
      68.   #54 Eric - Give us a neutral source 00:32  |  * BEN JABO 20/11/07
      69.   #55 Silvienne 00:34  |  * BEN JABO 20/11/07
      70.   #54 Eric - Paris 00:43  |  * BEN JABO 20/11/07
      71.   jd 1 01:02  |  realism 20/11/07
      72.   #54 wants Israel to release 9000 terrorists,yeh that will help! 01:13  |  guantanmo has room 20/11/07
      73.   RELEASE ALL PRISONERS, RETURN E.JERUSALEM/WEST BANK = PEACE 01:15  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 20/11/07
      74.   I thought when you said children,their ages were 01:37  |  maria 20/11/07
      75.   Release all of them and send them to Gaza 01:44  |  e.m 20/11/07
      76.   Mark of Lewiston 01:46  |  Free Gilad Shalit 20/11/07
      77.   POP 49 01:50  |  Free Gilad Shalit 20/11/07
      78.   tbora - so far no 03:27  |  Mark Lincoln 20/11/07
      79.