Carrying pictures of their detained loved ones, thousands of Palestinian men, women and children rallied in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday to mark the annual Prisoners' Day.

Rallies were held in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin as well as in Gaza City to demand the release of more than 9,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

"No peace without release of all Arab and Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails" read one sign in the northern city of Nablus.

"There will be neither peace nor security without the freeing of Palestinian prisoners," Palestinian prisoner affairs minister Suleiman (Tayssir) Abu Sneineh told the crowd gathered in the southern West Bank town of Hebron.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya described the detainees as heroes and said that gaining their freedom was a priority for his government.

Egypt has been mediating drawn-out talks between the Israelis and Palestinians over a possible prisoner exchange deal under which detained Palestinians will be freed in return for Israeli soldier Cpl Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Gaza resistance fighters in a cross-border raid last June.

Palestinians have given Israel a list of about 450 prisoners they want to be released in exchange for Shalit, but the Israeli government insists that it will not free anyone involved in resistance attacks against it.

"All prisoners should be released, not only those who are included in the exchange for Shalit," Haniya said.

"No country has stopped talking about Shalit… His name is one of the most famous. But who knows the names of... our prisoners in the prisons of the occupation?"



from: aljazeera.com

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It is a good news for the families of the prisoners palistiniens and the family of the Israeli soldier .