
The Revolutionary Council of the Fatah movement, under the leadership of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, on Saturday published a statement expressing joy over the release of 200 terrorist prisoners in exchange for four female IDF soldiers, and congratulating the prisoners and their families.
In the statement, which was published by the official PA news agency WAFA, the Revolutionary Council emphasized the determination of the Palestinian Arab people to secure the release of "all our heroic prisoners from the occupation's prisons, to continue our national resistance by all legitimate means... and to adhere to the right of refugees to return and receive compensation."
The Revolutionary Council of Fatah also stated that the movement would continue to stand at the forefront of the Palestinian Arab people's resistance in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria, and Jerusalem to thwart the plans for the expulsion of the Palestinian Arab people.
"As we embrace our heroic prisoners, we reaffirm our inalienable rights regarding the end of the occupation and settlement, and the realization of our national independence in our independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital," the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, Abbas called one of the released terrorists, Yasser Abu Bakr, and congratulated him on his release.
Abu Bakr was part of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and had been imprisoned for 23 years, sentenced to 115 years for planning attacks in 2002.
He was responsible for the attack in the city of Netanya in March 2002, in which two Israelis, including a nine-month-old baby, were murdered.
He was also responsible for the murder of a police officer near Baqa al-Gharbiyye in the same month, and had planned a suicide attack at Tel Hashomer Hospital.