Gaza City, Apr 17: Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets today to demand the release of prisoners held by Israel, while militant leaders threatened to kidnap Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips. About 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are being held in Israeli jails on suspicion that they were involved in violence against Israel. Most were rounded up in army raids during more than three years of fighting. Today's demonstrations in the west bank and Gaza marked an annual day of solidarity with prisoners. In a Gaza City march, parents carried pictures of their imprisoned sons and daughters. Actors dressed as Israeli soldiers and Palestinian prisoners played out scenes on the back of a truck draped with barbed wire, with "soldiers" beating shackled and blindfolded "prisoners."

Leaders of the militant Hamas and Islamic jihad groups threatened to kidnap Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips in future prisoner swaps with Israel - a tactic successfully used by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
"There is no policy except the policy of kidnapping soldiers so they can be exchanged with our prisoners," said Abdullah Shami, the Islamic jihad leader in Gaza. "This tactic will be used by all the Palestinian factions." Bureau Report