PA: Terrorist prisoners are "symbols of national struggle, lights of freedom, beacons of liberation, peace, and justice”

Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs

Headline: “Freedom to the prisoners for [Palestinian] Prisoner’s Day”

“On brave Palestinian Prisoner’s Day, the world, human rights organizations, and the UN must again raise their voices to restore the honor to the cause of the prisoners of peace, justice, and freedom as prisoners of war who are not ‘terrorists.’ The situation is the complete opposite, because the prison guard, the murderer, the terrorist, and the one who is stealing the right, the homeland, and the freedom is the Zionist Israeli…

The prisoners’ cause was and still is one of the central issues in the conflict, and it will remain a central matter. The Palestinian [PA] leadership will not abandon a single one of their rights, and foremost among them the right of their family members to receive a salary similar to the families of the Martyrs.The leadership will not agree to bargaining over this right and will not allow anyone to impose conditions on it.It will continue to adhere to defending them, because they are symbols of the national struggle, lights of freedom, and beacons of liberation, peace, and justice.”