[Reuters]

Published date: 12th Aug 1997

Gaza, Aug. 11: Thousands of Palestinian protesters marched on Gaza’s main street on Monday demanding Israel free their prisoners and end a closure it posed after a suicide attack last month in Jerusalem.  

“As long as my son is in prison, I don’t feel any peace,” said a woman, whose 24-year-old son Ahmad is serving a life term in an Israel jail.  

The protesters including the wife of imprisoned Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin cradled framed, blown-up photos of their husbands and sons and waved Palestinian flags.  

“Yasser the leader and the President we are with you,” one sign read, referring to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. “There’s no peace keeping prisoners as hostage,” said another.  

The protests coincided with a new peace mission by US envoy Dennis Ross to try and save Israeli Palestinian peace process which hit crisis level after two Muslim bombers killed themselves and 14 people in a Jewish market in Jerusalem on July 30.  

Palestinian officials say 3,500 political prisoners are there in Israeli different jails. (Reuter) 

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