16 Liberated Palestinian Prisoners Arrive in Damascus

Sixteen liberated Palestinian prisoners arrived on Wednesday in Damascus International Airport, on board a Syrian airplane.

The liberated prisoners deported to Syria include one Palestinian girl who had spent seven years in the Israeli jails.

477 prisoners were freed on Tuesday as part of a swap deal between the Israeli occupation government and the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

The deal included the release of 1027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas in 2006. The other 550 will be released within two months.

Freed prisoner Nimr Ibrahim Drouzeh told SANA that the swap deal proves that the resistance will continue until achieving victory, adding that some of the freed prisoners were jailed for 30 years.

For his part, Rabee Salamah Za’al said that “I chose to come to Syria because it supports the resistance… When I’m in Syria, I feel my return to Palestine is near.”

Freed prisoner Ahmad Hanini, said “Syria and Palestine are one Country.”

Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmed Jibril pointed out to the importance of this operation which proved the ability of the resistance to confront the Israeli occupation.

Jibril added that “The Israeli occupation understands only the concept of power and the negotiations with it never resulted in releasing any prisoner.”

He stressed the role of Syria in embracing the Palestinian resistance, highlighting that this operation wouldn’t have been accomplished without Syria.

Jamal Issa of Hamas Movement, said that Syria will embrace the prisoners because it is the basic supporter of the resistance, stressing that this swap deal proves that the Palestinian people support the resistance.

Member of the PFLP Political Bureau, Anwar Raja, said that “The number of the prisoners who came to Syria stresses that Damascus is the strategic bastion of the resistance despite the intentional crises plotted against it to undermine its national and pan-Arab stances.”

Member of the PFLP Political Bureau, Maher al- Taher, described the swap deal as a huge accomplishment, hoping that all the prisoners will be released from the Israeli jails.

“We came to Damascus Airport to welcome the freed prisoners in their country Syria, which have always embraced the resistance.” He concluded.