Mohamed Sawalha hugs his mother at his home in the West Bank village of Azmut yesterday.
Reuters/Jerusalem
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators reconvened US-brokered peace talks in Jerusalem yesterday amid little fanfare and low expectations, dogged by plans for more Jewish settler homes on occupied land.
The resumption of negotiations, after a first round in Washington last month that ended a three-year standoff over Jewish settlement building, followed Palestinian celebrations overnight as Israel released 26 of their jailed brethren.
Optimism was in short supply before the two sides’ first official meeting in Jerusalem in nearly five years, with the session expected to focus on setting an agenda for the talks.
“Israel will resort to feints and evasion and put up impossible demands in order to say that these negotiations are fruitless and to continue its policy of stealing land as it has done until this moment,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official tasked by President Mahmoud Abbas to comment on the talks.
Israel has published plans for 3,100 new settler homes in recent days, drawing US and other international concern and deepening Palestinian distrust.
Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief peace negotiator and justice minister, said on her Facebook page before the teams met: “Today, I will continue the important mission I began - to achieve a peace agreement that will keep the country Jewish and democratic and provide security ... for Israel and its citizens.”
Hoping to avoid any public wrangling in the talks on peace and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, officials have said few details would be released.
Israeli cabinet minister Yaakov Peri said a “long and exhausting trek” lay ahead. US Secretary of State John Kerry has set a goal of nine months for an agreement to be reached.
“Both for the Palestinians and for us, the hourglass is running out. We will not have many more opportunities to resolve this dispute,” Peri told Army Radio.
Cousins taste freedom after 23 years
Tears streamed down Hosni Sawalha’s face as he recited from the Qur’an alongside the graves of his parents, who died while he was in jail in Israel since his teens.
The 40-year-old and his cousin Mohamed Sawalha were released along with 24 other long-serving Palestinian inmates early yesterday.
“I still can’t believe I’m free,” Hosni said on arriving at 3.30am back to his hometown of Azmut, near Nablus in the West Bank.
He and Mohamed received a heroes’ welcome from villagers, friends and family, who gathered to cheer the return of their native sons, who had served 23 years of a life sentence.
The two men, alongside accomplice Jaafar Duweikat, were arrested during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1990, accused of stabbing and killing one Israeli and wounding three others aboard a bus near Tel Aviv.
Duweikat was shot dead by the bus driver.
“Mohamed and Hosni are heroes, seen by their contemporaries as imprisoned in Israel for the sake of the (Palestinian) nation,” said Ghassan Mohamed, a 37-year-old taxi driver.
Mohamed and Hosni were reluctant to talk about their actions, both saying they now simply wished for peace.
“I hope the resumption of talks will achieve something and won’t just be a waste of time. I hope we can gain our rights and all our prisoners are freed,” said Mohamed, also 40.
The men said they wanted to resume their normal lives, move on and perhaps get married.
“Our release was a big surprise, because we thought we’d be among the last batch of prisoners,” Hosni said.
Mohamed’s mother Umm Yusif, in her 70s and the last remaining of the two cousins’ parents, smiled from ear to ear, ululated and sang as they arrived back in Azmut.
“This moment is the happiest of my life,” she beamed, saying that she could not wait to feed her son.
