The Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian parliament was freed Tuesday from an Israeli prison after serving the bulk of his three-year sentence. Abdel Aziz Duaik is the most senior of dozens of Hamas politicians under arrest since June 2006 when an Israeli soldier was captured in Gaza strip. The soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, will mark three years in captivity on Thursday. Hamas would not say whether Duaik, who was released into the West Bank, would resume his duties as parliament speaker. But the Palestinian parliament has not functioned since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, according to a report of the Associated Press.
