GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad in Palestine, Ziyad Al-Nakhala, has hailed the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from the Zionist regime’s high-security Gilboa Prison three weeks ago.
In a message released by Islamic Jihad, Al-Nakhala said the men were “Heroes of the Jenin Brigade … who triggered a strong Palestinian intifada.”
Al-Nakhala said that Palestinians, as well as all the free people across the world, were worried about them.
“You have summarized the will of the whole people of Palestine in a very short period between your escape from prison and your return to it,” he said, according to Sama news agency.
“Six men have united all Palestinians and the free people of the world. You have done what was impossible and became freedom symbols for Palestine.”
Al-Nakhala reiterated that the Palestinian resistance is doing its best to free them along with all the prisoners. “Freedom is waiting for you,” he said, “the Palestinians and resistance from Jenin to Gaza are working to free you.”
Concluding his message, he warned the Zionist regime against any aggression against the prisoners and stressed that “the next battle with the Israeli occupation is coming soon.”
Meanwhile, Hanan Ashrawi said the dramatic escape of six Palestinian prisoners from the notorious jail proves that even high-security detention centers of the regime are “not immune to the Palestinian spirit and yearning to be free.”
The noted Palestinian politician, activist and scholar made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Sunday.
Ashrawi, who served as spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation to the Zionist-Palestinian talks in the early 1990s, said “self-liberated prisoners” have captured the imagination of Palestinians and boosted their morale in continuing the struggle for the liberation of occupied territories.
“There are different types of captivities but all of Palestine is being held captive by Israel,” she said, while hailing the heroic escape of the six Gilboa Prison inmates.
Endorsing the demand made by the Hamas resistance group, Ashrawi said the six prisoners and others like Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat must be part of any future prisoner swap deal between the two sides.
“The six (prisoners) deserve to be free; in fact all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons unlawfully and unjustly deserve to be free,” she said.
Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya announced on Friday that the six Palestinians who escaped from Gilboa Prison would be the priority in any potential prisoner swap with the Zionist regime.