Israel released the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Dweik, after nearly three years in prison.
Mr Dweik, 60, arrived at a military checkpoint outside the city of Tulkarem in the north of the occupied West Bank after his release from Hadarim prison near Tel Aviv. He was greeted by a horde of reporters.
"Any person deprived of his freedom feels an enormous hardship," Mr Dweik said.
His release comes after a military tribunal, at the Ofer military base near Ramallah, rejected an application by prosecutors to keep Mr Dweik behind bars after his three-year sentence ran out.
Mr Dweik was elected speaker in February 2006, a month after the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in a surprise rout of the long dominant Fatah party of president Mahmoud Abbas.
He was arrested by Israeli security forces at his Ramallah home in August 2006 in a West Bank crackdown on Hamas, in which more than 60 elected officials were detained, including a third of the then government and more than two dozen MPs.
Some were later released, but at least 35 remain in custody.
The crackdown came after Hamas and other Gaza militants seized Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006. He remains in captivity to this day.
In December 2008, an Israeli military court sentenced Mr Dweik to three years in prison ? including the 28 months he had already served ? for membership of Hamas, which Israel like the European Union and the United States blacklists as a terror group.
Because of power struggles between Hamas and the rival Fatah, the Palestinian parliament has been paralysed for nearly all of its tenure, managing to meet only a few times since its inaugural session in February 2006.
The animosity between the two camps reached its acme two years ago, when Hamas routed Fatah forces from Gaza to seize power in the territory.
The discord was on full display on Tuesday, as Hamas welcomed Mr Dweik's release in a statement, saying it "should breathe new life into and reinforce the parliament and introduce a certain balance to the West Bank faced with the monstrosity of Fatah and its security services."
Mr Abbas called Mr Dweik to "congratulate" him on his freedom, his office said.
Hamas has 74 MPs in the 132-parliament and Fatah 45, with the rest of the deputies belonging to smaller factions.
Israel currently holds some 9,260 Palestinian prisoners, according to Palestinian figures.
*AFP
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
more from Janine di Giovanni
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
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The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
6025 - Dh 20
2252 - Dh 50
2208 - Dh 100
6020 - Dh 200
*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
