Prisoner issue key for Gaza, Lebanon peace: Abbas

Paris, July 24: The release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails must be a key part of any process to stop the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying today.

''No Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement will be successful without a fair solution to this problem,'' Abbas told the French newspaper Humanite, according to an advance copy of the interview to be published tomorrow.

''The acts of war have to stop and a process of political negotiation under direct international supervision has to start immediately,'' he was quoted as saying.

This would have to address the release of Israeli soldiers kidnapped in Gaza and Lebanon, either simultaneously or separately, and the issue of Palestinian and Arab prisoners, some of whom have been held in Israel for 25 years, he added.

He said he feared the situation in the West Asia could flare up further if the international community did not act swiftly. ''The current situation risks pushing the whole region towards more violence and extremism,'' he added.

Reuters

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