Joy, Tears as Palestinians Greet Freed Prisoners

Crowds of Palestinians, many of them overwhelmed and in tears, welcomed home hundreds of freed detainees in the West Bank and Gaza on Tuesday, under a landmark prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

The 477 prisoners, the first of two groups of Palestinian detainees being exchanged for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, arrived in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza late morning Tuesday.

In Gaza, they came across the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah in a convoy of eight buses accompanied by several Hamas cars and a vehicle belonging to the Red Cross.

On the Palestinian side they were greeted by relatives and high-ranking members of the Hamas movement, which inked the historic deal securing the prisoner releases in exchange for Shalit's freedom.

Men wept as they embraced their sons and brothers, while women, some of them draped in the Palestinian flags and the green banner of Hamas, ululated.

The prisoners were then driven from the southern border crossing to Gaza City, where Hamas said over 200,000 people were waiting to greet the detainees at a mass ceremony.

Ayman Abdul Halim, 19, said he had turned out to celebrate the return of all the prisoners, no matter what political party they came from.

"Our message and my message is Palestinian national unity," he said. "The prisoners from Hamas, Fatah and so on are all brothers, and when Israel arrested them it didn't care to which faction they belonged."

Near Ramallah, hundreds of family members had gathered by the Ofer prison to receive their relatives, only to learn that Israel had decided to drop the detainees off at a separate point.

Angered by the news, some began to throw stones at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas.

When the West Bank prisoners were finally delivered to the Palestinian side, they were taken directly to Ramallah and the seat of the Palestinian presidency, the Muqataa.

Thousands of Palestinians flocked to the building, which also houses the grave of Palestinian hero Yasser Arafat, waving flags and cheering as the detainees arrived in several buses.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the crowd, flanked, in a rare sign of unity, by members of the Hamas movement from the West Bank.

"Your sacrifices and your efforts and your work have not been in vain. You have sacrificed and fought," he said, as the crowd chanted "God is greatest."

"Your cause has been and remains in our hearts," he added. "God willing we will see every single prisoner, male and female, return to their homeland."

In the crowd, many seemed completely overtaken by the emotion of the reunion, clinging to their relatives, and in some cases even fainting at the sight of them.

Israel is releasing a total of 1,027 detainees, the first 477 on Tuesday and a second group of 550 within two months.

Hundreds of those included in the exchange were convicted for their involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis, and their release prompted some criticism in the Jewish state.

But the Palestinians regard the detainees as heroes, calling them political prisoners, and their return has been seized upon as a triumph by ordinary Palestinians as well as officials across the political spectrum.

Among the returning prisoners, many expressed a sense of sadness that they were leaving behind other Palestinian detainees, including some high-profile figures who Israel refused to release.

Tawfiq Abdullah, 52, who served 26 years of a life sentence in Israeli prison, said it was difficult to describe his feelings.

"I feel a mixture of happiness and pain," he said. "Happiness because I am out and can see the light, but pain at the brothers I have left behind."

Nearby, 40-year-old Nayef Nidal, free after 17 years in prison, was similarly lost for words.

"I really can't describe my feelings, but that I hope all the mothers of the prisoners will be happy," he said, collapsing into the arms of his relatives.

In east Jerusalem, families gathered near the Mount of Olives to receive their relatives, waiting from the early hours of the morning in the clear, cold air.

Mohammed Hussein Shehada was there to receive his daughter Sana, who was imprisoned in 2002.

"I am so happy. I was really scared I would die before I saw her," he said. "She is equal to 10 of my sons."