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Palestinian
prisoners hug each other as they arrive at Salem checkpoint on the
way to Jenin
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NABLUS,
West Bank, August 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As always
the case before or in parallel with the release of any Palestinian
detainees, Israeli occupation forces detained nine Palestinians in the
occupied territories before freeing 73 Palestinians held on criminal
charges on Friday, August 15.
Israeli
troops clashed with and eventually detained three members of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the northern West
Bank town of Qalqiliya, reported the Israeli Haaretz
daily.
Occupation
forces also detained six more wanted Palestinians in the West Bank
cities of Nablus and Tamun, to the south, it added.
And
in the city's Balata refugee camp, the Israeli army razed to the
ground the family home of Amar Abu Ayache, an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
member killed on May 17 allegedly while carrying out an attack in the
northern West Bank settlement of Shaarei Tikvah.
Criminal
Detainees
Meanwhile,
some 73 Palestinian prisoners, including one woman, were released
Friday morning at four checkpoints in the West Bank and one in the
Gaza Strip, reported the Israeli Haaretz daily.
The
paper recalled that the release of the prisoners was scheduled for
Tuesday but was delayed after a pair of bombings
earlier this week.
The
prisoners, most of whom were convicted of being in Israel illegally
boarded, buses for four Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and one
at the entrance to the Gaza Strip.
An
AFP photographer saw 32 pull up at one checkpoint near the southern
West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron).
They
got off the bus calmly, some flashing the "V for victory"
sign to journalists, who were the only people on hand to greet them.
On
August 6, Israel released 341 Palestinians
held for security offenses, a number far below the expectations of the
Palestinian people under the internationally-back roadmap.
Palestinians
are pressing for the release of some 8,000 prisoners in Israeli jails.
In
the latest blow to the peace process, Israeli forces on Thursday killed
a local leader of the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad in
the West Bank.
That
prompted a vow of vengeance -- but it was coupled with a continued
commitment to the truce declared by the main resistance factions.
