Remember? It was just before the Aqaba summit. U.S. President George Bush was pressing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to release hundreds of terrorist prisoners as a "good will" gesture toward Yassir Arafat's new Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. There were all sorts of documents being drawn up and promises made about how the released prisoners would forever abjure terrorism and would become model citizens working toward peace. Remember?
It's already hard to find a lot of hard news archives from way back then, and those that are out there are pretty lame. Here's a good flashback, though, to refresh all of our memories.
If you still don't believe that terrorists will return to "work", then look at the case of Ahmed Jbarra, better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Sukkar. He's the Palestinian prisoner who was released by Israel on the eve of the Aqaba summit in June. In spite of his signing an agreement not to engage in any violent activities upon his release - as has the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah prisoners due to be released - he recently called on Palestinians to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to exchange them for the prisoners held by Israel. Abu Sukkar was recently appointed as Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's special adviser on the issue of the prisoners.
According to the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Information Center, Jbarra who served 28 years of a life sentence for murdering 14 people when he planted a refrigerator bomb in Jerusalem's Zion Square in 1975 spoke recently at a Bethlehem rally held in his honor. The report said he "indirectly" urged Palestinians to abduct IDF soldiers. According to the center, he told the rally that there would be no peace or security for Israel without the release of all the prisoners. "I would like to remind all the national and Islamic factions that in return for three soldiers, Israel released 1,150 prisoners in the famous exchange," Jbarra said, referring to the 1985 prisoner exchange between Israel and the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril. Jbarra also praised the Palestinians for killing one Jew for every three Palestinians killed during the current intifada, noting that in the previous intifada, the figure stood at on e Jew for every 28 Palestinians killed in clashes with the IDF. So much for "repentant activists", one can clearly see the lessons they've learned.
Jbarra's claim to fame (in addition to the fact that he had murdered 14 people and maimed dozens of others) was that he had been the longest serving terrorist held in Israeli jails. On June 3, 2003, that honor passed to one Said Al-Ataba. Try as I might, I can't find out exactly what he was arrested for, other than "brave resistance against the occuption" (according to the various and sundry voices calling for his release). I do know that the failure to include him on the latest misbegotten prisoner release list is one of the excuses the PA is allegedly dredging up to once again reject the offer (even though ... hello? ... it's a freebie).
