Head of Prisoner's Office supports releasing all Palestinian prisoners, including terrorist murderers
Interview with S’ad Nimr, Director General of the PA Ministry of Detainees & Ex-Detainees Affairs Minister’s Office. Interview conducted by Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis):
Aaron Lerner: “Hi, I’m from IMRA news agency (Independent Media Review Analysis)… I’m trying to reach someone from the [Palestinian Authority] Ministry of the Detainees Office. Who am I speaking with?”
S’ad Nimr: “It’s S’ad Nimr, the Chief of the Minister [of Prisoner]’s office.”
Aaron Lerner: “Excellent. I had a technical question for you. …with the Palestinian position calling for the release of all detainees… now that would apply also to the two Palestinians who have now been detained for the murders in Itamar, correct?” (In March 2011 the parents and three of their six children of the Fogel family were brutally murdered in their home in the town Itamar, -ed.)
S’ad Nimr: “Depends on if it’s… if there is a (inaudible) by the Israeli that the Palestinian has done that or not. We are not quite sure about that yet.”
Aaron Lerner: “No, (inaudible). Let me restate that. Anybody who… assuming for the moment the Israeli reports are correct having two Palestinians… What would be the position of the (inaudible)? Would these two Palestinians fall within the framework of the call to release all Palestinian detainees?”
S’ad Nimr: “What we call for is to release all Palestinian prisoners regardless of the charges since we are now in this conflict, and all these, those prisoners because of the occupation, the Israeli occupation to the West Bank and to [the] Gaza Strip, so, from our point of view, all Palestinians who have the right to resist the occupation, and they have a duty to resist the occupation, and have fallen in prison, because of resisting the occupation, to end the occupation, definitely, [they] would fall within the category of our demand to release all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison[s]. If there is a peace process and if there is a Palestinian state and we end all of this conflict, definitely, there will be no need for Palestinian resistance and consequently, there will be no Palestinian prisoners. So, we know that there is a cause and there is a result and from our point of view, definitely, we are defending all our, of our Palestinian prisoners regardless of their charges.”
Aaron Lerner: “Hi, I’m from IMRA news agency (Independent Media Review Analysis)… I’m trying to reach someone from the [Palestinian Authority] Ministry of the Detainees Office. Who am I speaking with?”
S’ad Nimr: “It’s S’ad Nimr, the Chief of the Minister [of Prisoner]’s office.”
Aaron Lerner: “Excellent. I had a technical question for you. …with the Palestinian position calling for the release of all detainees… now that would apply also to the two Palestinians who have now been detained for the murders in Itamar, correct?” (In March 2011 the parents and three of their six children of the Fogel family were brutally murdered in their home in the town Itamar, -ed.)
S’ad Nimr: “Depends on if it’s… if there is a (inaudible) by the Israeli that the Palestinian has done that or not. We are not quite sure about that yet.”
Aaron Lerner: “No, (inaudible). Let me restate that. Anybody who… assuming for the moment the Israeli reports are correct having two Palestinians… What would be the position of the (inaudible)? Would these two Palestinians fall within the framework of the call to release all Palestinian detainees?”
S’ad Nimr: “What we call for is to release all Palestinian prisoners regardless of the charges since we are now in this conflict, and all these, those prisoners because of the occupation, the Israeli occupation to the West Bank and to [the] Gaza Strip, so, from our point of view, all Palestinians who have the right to resist the occupation, and they have a duty to resist the occupation, and have fallen in prison, because of resisting the occupation, to end the occupation, definitely, [they] would fall within the category of our demand to release all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison[s]. If there is a peace process and if there is a Palestinian state and we end all of this conflict, definitely, there will be no need for Palestinian resistance and consequently, there will be no Palestinian prisoners. So, we know that there is a cause and there is a result and from our point of view, definitely, we are defending all our, of our Palestinian prisoners regardless of their charges.”