PA Minister: Palestinian prisoners are “war captives” and should be released
Headline: "Karake: Recognition of the independent State of Palestine on the 1967 borders will be beneficial for the legal status of the Palestinian prisoners"
"[Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa] Karake said: 'The leadership's appeal to the UN will be beneficial for the prisoners' cause.' He noted that the anchoring of the legal status of the Palestinian people in its independent state would mean that all the prisoners and detainees become state prisoners who cannot be held hostage in another country, and who must therefore be released…
The Minister of Prisoners' Affairs added: 'Our prisoners are war captives and not criminal prisoners.'"