So I’m going to be starting a new thing here. Now my goal this month was to have at least 25 days with posts (which I am on track for), but I’ve recently figured out how we do this whole video thing on here so I wanted to start something new. From now on newsday.today.com will feature a video post as well as a regular post (hopefully) daily, in an effort to bring you a more rounded form of news and entertainment.
In today’s segment, as a follow-up to this post, I’d like to recognize the gentleman from Texas.
In what can only be considered as a great sign for peace in the Middle East, Israel freed 224 Palestinians as a peace gesture to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israel currently holds more than 8,000 Palestinians. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Palestinian living in Israel that doesn’t know someone who is or has been detained by the Israelis. That’s why today’s release is so big. Releasing Palestinian prisoners who have been charged with violent crimes is not an overwhelmingly popular thing to do for an Israeli government. It is, however, something that will be essential to the two sides reaching an agreement.
One of the prisoners, Abdel Nasser Hussein, 28, was arrested at dawn on his wedding day 30 months ago. He was able to embrace his fiancee as a free man for the first time in years today, and perhaps focus on getting that wedding back in order.
“It’s indescribable happiness,” said Hussein, a former member of the Palestinian security forces. “You can’t put a price on freedom, and my hope that is that the president will keep working for my colleagues to be released.”
Abbas personally met each detainee at his headquarters in Ramallah after their release and vowed to continue working towards the release of the remaining prisoners.
Still, as big of a step as this was, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. We are a long ways away from peace in the Middle East. Each side is going to have to make a lot more concessions like this one if we are ever to truly achieve peace in Israel.
