Abbas hopes for release of Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences for murder

In October 2011, the Israeli government agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prison in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years.
Abbas' speech on the day of the prisoners’ release, as broadcast on PA TV:
     "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. We thank Allah that [you have returned] in peace, that you have returned safe and sound to your families, to your brothers, to your communities, after the enforced absence which was imposed on you because you are people of struggle and Jihad fighters for Allah and the homeland. We ask of Allah, may He be exalted, to fulfill our wish to see the rest of our brothers and sisters released like you, at this plaza, Allah willing. Your sacrifice and your effort and your actions were not in vain. You acted and struggled and sacrificed, and in the future you will see the results of your struggle in the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Brothers and sisters, your cause was and still is in our hearts and our thoughts, in our consciousness wherever we have been, in every Arabic or international forum. We were concerned only for our prisoner brothers and sisters, and we now see some of the most prominent among them. And the rest, Allah willing, will be [freed] soon, very soon. Allah willing, soon we will see here brother Marwan Barghouti, brother Ahmad Sa'adat, to whom we wish a speedy recovery. And we want to see, Allah willing, Ibrahim Hamed also, and Abbas Al-Sayid, and every male and female prisoner, returning, released, to the homeland, Allah willing."
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Note: Marwan Barghouti - serving five life sentences for orchestrating terror attacks against Israeli civilians. When arrested in 2002, he headed Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected member of the Palestinian Authority parliament.
Ahmad Sa'adat - serving a 30-year sentence for heading the PFLP terror organization. A song at a PFLP event also praised him for planning the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi in 2001, but he has not been tried for this crime.
Ibrahim Hamed - Hamas military leader who orchestrated many suicide attacks and bombings in Israel during the Intifada. He planned the Hebrew University, Cafe Moment and Cafe Hillel suicide bombings, among others.
Abbas Al-Sayid - sentenced to 35 life sentences and 150 years for planning the suicide bombing on the Jewish Passover Seder at Hotel Park in 2002 in which 30 Israelis were killed and 140 wounded, and a suicide bombing in Netanya in which 5 were killed and 100 wounded in 2001.