Palestinian PM welcomes EU parliament stance on prisoner

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday welcomed the position of European Parliament about the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. “The prisoners issue is put forward and discussed for the first time by the European Parliament,” Fayyad told reporters.

On Sept. 4, the European Parliament, in adopting a resolution on the situation of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the members welcomed the recent Israeli government step to free 198 Palestinian prisoners on Aug. 25.

Fayyad said that the debating about the prisoners issue by the EU Parliament was “part of the Palestinian National Authority’s (PNA) efforts to free all the prisoners from the Israeli jails.”

Israel holds more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The parliament also called for freeing Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit who is held in Gaza Strip by the Islamic Resistance Movement , or Hamas since 2006.

Hamas says it would not release Shalit until Israel frees more than 1,000 prisoners Hamas selects them.