Thousands of people marched through downtown Jerusalem last night in a Peace Now-led demonstration against pardon for the alleged members of a Jewish terrorist underground presently on trial or already convicted and serving sentences.
The pardon is being demanded by Jewish settlers in the West Bank and their supporters in the Knesset following the May 20 prisoner exchange in which Israel freed 1,150 Palestinians serving time for terrorist offenses in return for three Israeli soldiers captured three years ago by terrorists in Lebanon.
About 600 of the freed prisoners were allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. Jewish settlers in the territories have since mounted a campaign to force the terrorists to leave. Last night the Israel Defense Force prevented a convoy of settlers from entering Nablus, the largest Arab city in the West Bank. The settlers used bull horns to demand the ouster of the released prisoners living in Nablus. The IDF placed roadblocks on the approach roads and took down the registration numbers of all cars with Israeli license plates.
The Peace Now demonstrators marched past the homes of Premier Shimon Peres and Deputy Premier Yitzhak Shamir and then held a rally at Liberty Garden, overlooking the Old City. MK Yossi Sarid of the Citizens Rights Movement (CRM), addressing the throng, said it was up to Peres to decide whether he preserves Israel’s democracy by preventing a pardon for the alleged Jewish terrorists or destroys it by allowing a pardon. Peres has repeatedly pointed out that only the President can grant amnesty in criminal cases and has urged politicians not to interfere in the judicial process.
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