12 oct 2011
Ronsky: Shalit should have been declared dead

Former IDF chief rabbi says exchanging captive soldier for terrorists is 'crazy', believes only way to obtain release is through military action. Chief rabbis, on other hand, welcome deal.
The former IDF Chief Rabbi Brigadier General (Res.) Avichai Ronsky on Tuesday said that Israel should not have strived towards a prisoner swap that included freeing terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. He believes the captive soldier should have been declared a dead soldier that cannot be reclaimed.
Speaking to Ynet, Ronsky claimed that the only right way to release Shalit was through military action and if that was impossible – to sadly accept the fact that the soldier would remain in Hamas captivity though he added it was "tough to say that".
Rabbi Ronsky explained his position: "You can't bring an entire country to its knees, that's just crazy. It's complete surrender."
According to Ronsky, the Palestinians' strength does not lie with a strong army or a magnificent country but mainly in spirit and a move like this is a great motivator to battle against Israel and carry out major terror attacks. "We know who the people being released are", the rabbi said of the prisoners.
"They are artists at these kinds of things, a second after their release they will be untraceable."
The former IDF chief rabbi claimed that Palestinian terrorists released since the 90's have, over the years murdered over a thousand Israelis in a long line of terror attacks and the defense establishment is aware of the possibility that "within just a few months the Shalit deal might blow up in our face in certain terror attacks, there is no 'maybe' about it.
He added that this wasn't his stance; rather it was the opinion of professionals in the field – including some with a left-wing outlook that is "very far from his own"
As to the question of whether there would not be a huge blow to morale among the troops on the Israeli side when soldiers know that the IDF won't necessarily do everything to rescue them from captivity, Ronsky said: "Just the opposite. They don't want to be exchanged for terrorists; they want to be rescued through a military operation."
'Pray for Gilad'
In contrast to Rabbi Ronsky, Israel's chief rabbis welcomed the deal and expressed hope that through the redemption of prisoners which is considered "the greatest mitzvah", God will hear the prayers of the Israeli people and bring forth our redemption.
"Together with the entire Israeli nation, the chief rabbis are excited and happy over the major news, of redemption and salvation", a message issued on behalf of the rabbis said.
"We call on the entire nation to pray for Gilad son of Aviva Shalit and for all our brothers in the nation of Israel held in sorrow and captivity, may the joy be complete and unaccompanied by any sorrow or loss from the deal and its consequences."
White House pleased by Israeli soldier's release
The White House said Wednesday the US was pleased that Israel and Hamas have reached a prisoner exchange deal for the release of an Israeli soldier held since 2006.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the swap, of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, was long overdue.
Report: Prisoner list to be published Sunday
A list of prisoners to be released in the first phase of the prisoner exchange deal will be published by Sunday morning, Israel's Justice Ministry said Wednesday.
Israel's Ynet news agency said the ministry indicated that the list would appear on the Israel Prisoner Service's website, and the public will have 48 hours "to submit reservations and objections."
The former IDF Chief Rabbi Brigadier General (Res.) Avichai Ronsky on Tuesday said that Israel should not have strived towards a prisoner swap that included freeing terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shalit. He believes the captive soldier should have been declared a dead soldier that cannot be reclaimed.
Speaking to Ynet, Ronsky claimed that the only right way to release Shalit was through military action and if that was impossible – to sadly accept the fact that the soldier would remain in Hamas captivity though he added it was "tough to say that".
Rabbi Ronsky explained his position: "You can't bring an entire country to its knees, that's just crazy. It's complete surrender."
According to Ronsky, the Palestinians' strength does not lie with a strong army or a magnificent country but mainly in spirit and a move like this is a great motivator to battle against Israel and carry out major terror attacks. "We know who the people being released are", the rabbi said of the prisoners.
"They are artists at these kinds of things, a second after their release they will be untraceable."
The former IDF chief rabbi claimed that Palestinian terrorists released since the 90's have, over the years murdered over a thousand Israelis in a long line of terror attacks and the defense establishment is aware of the possibility that "within just a few months the Shalit deal might blow up in our face in certain terror attacks, there is no 'maybe' about it.
He added that this wasn't his stance; rather it was the opinion of professionals in the field – including some with a left-wing outlook that is "very far from his own"
As to the question of whether there would not be a huge blow to morale among the troops on the Israeli side when soldiers know that the IDF won't necessarily do everything to rescue them from captivity, Ronsky said: "Just the opposite. They don't want to be exchanged for terrorists; they want to be rescued through a military operation."
'Pray for Gilad'
In contrast to Rabbi Ronsky, Israel's chief rabbis welcomed the deal and expressed hope that through the redemption of prisoners which is considered "the greatest mitzvah", God will hear the prayers of the Israeli people and bring forth our redemption.
"Together with the entire Israeli nation, the chief rabbis are excited and happy over the major news, of redemption and salvation", a message issued on behalf of the rabbis said.
"We call on the entire nation to pray for Gilad son of Aviva Shalit and for all our brothers in the nation of Israel held in sorrow and captivity, may the joy be complete and unaccompanied by any sorrow or loss from the deal and its consequences."
White House pleased by Israeli soldier's release
The White House said Wednesday the US was pleased that Israel and Hamas have reached a prisoner exchange deal for the release of an Israeli soldier held since 2006.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the swap, of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, was long overdue.
Report: Prisoner list to be published Sunday
A list of prisoners to be released in the first phase of the prisoner exchange deal will be published by Sunday morning, Israel's Justice Ministry said Wednesday.
Israel's Ynet news agency said the ministry indicated that the list would appear on the Israel Prisoner Service's website, and the public will have 48 hours "to submit reservations and objections."
Sources: the first stage will see the release of all female captives

Well-informed sources said that the first stage of the prisoner-exchange deal which will be implemented in a few days will see the release of 450 male captives and all 27 female captives.
The sources informed PIC correspondent that the amongst the 450 captives to be released in the first stage there are 315 who were serving life sentences and 135 serving long sentences.
The sources also said that five of the female captives are serving life sentences, including Ahlam al-Tamimi and Qahera al-Sa'di.
The first group to be released will also include 45 captives from Jerusalem, 5 captives from 1948- occupied Palestine, 1 captive from the Golan, 131 from the Gaza Strip and 268 from the West Bank, according to the sources.
The second stage will see the release of 550 captives.
The sources informed PIC correspondent that the amongst the 450 captives to be released in the first stage there are 315 who were serving life sentences and 135 serving long sentences.
The sources also said that five of the female captives are serving life sentences, including Ahlam al-Tamimi and Qahera al-Sa'di.
The first group to be released will also include 45 captives from Jerusalem, 5 captives from 1948- occupied Palestine, 1 captive from the Golan, 131 from the Gaza Strip and 268 from the West Bank, according to the sources.
The second stage will see the release of 550 captives.
Nael al-Barghouthi: we are soldiers returning to their bases with high spirits

The longest serving captive Nael al-Barghouthi congratulated the Palestinian people on the conclusion of the exchange deal with the Israeli occupation and said that: "after 30 years of captivity, we are just soldiers returning to their bases.”
Barghouthi, who is on the list of prisoners to be freed from occupation jails, told “Falastin” newspaper that the Zionist illusion was dispersed with this deal which proved to be a spiritual uniting force of the Palestinian people.
He added that he hoped this unity would result in effective efforts to free the rest of Palestinian and Arab captives from occupation jails. He also praised the Palestinian resistance which inspired change in the Arab world which will lead to a brighter future.
He thanked the negotiating team and praised their resilience and wished this spirit of resilience is transferred to the rest of Palestinian factions so that Palestinians can work for liberation and return of refugees.
Barghouthi, who has served 33 years, remembered his mother who died while he was in captivity and could not see him and prayed for God to bless her and bless all the mothers who died while their children were in captivity.
Dr. Qasim: Exchange deal historic, honouring and a defeat for occupation
Dr. Abdel-Sattar Qasim, Professor of political science, said that the prisoner-exchange deal was a historic and honouring deal and represents a defeat of the occupation government's premier.
In a special statement to PIC he said the conclusion of this deals means that there was no other way the Zionist entity could have resorted to in order to free Shalit which forced it to accept the deal and this should be viewed as a historic achievement.
He stressed that this achievement is a real translation of determination and steadfastness, adding that this deal was similar to that reached in 1985 by the PFLP GC and Hizbollah.
He added that to clinch such a deal one needs lots of patience and determination and Hamas has both, that is why it managed to achieve this great deal.
He said that the deal united the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and 1948- occupied Palestine. The deal did not distinguish between Palestinians and the fact that it included all female captives reflects the values of our people.
He said that the expression on Netanyahu’s face as he announced the deal reflected defeat.
Barghouthi, who is on the list of prisoners to be freed from occupation jails, told “Falastin” newspaper that the Zionist illusion was dispersed with this deal which proved to be a spiritual uniting force of the Palestinian people.
He added that he hoped this unity would result in effective efforts to free the rest of Palestinian and Arab captives from occupation jails. He also praised the Palestinian resistance which inspired change in the Arab world which will lead to a brighter future.
He thanked the negotiating team and praised their resilience and wished this spirit of resilience is transferred to the rest of Palestinian factions so that Palestinians can work for liberation and return of refugees.
Barghouthi, who has served 33 years, remembered his mother who died while he was in captivity and could not see him and prayed for God to bless her and bless all the mothers who died while their children were in captivity.
Dr. Qasim: Exchange deal historic, honouring and a defeat for occupation
Dr. Abdel-Sattar Qasim, Professor of political science, said that the prisoner-exchange deal was a historic and honouring deal and represents a defeat of the occupation government's premier.
In a special statement to PIC he said the conclusion of this deals means that there was no other way the Zionist entity could have resorted to in order to free Shalit which forced it to accept the deal and this should be viewed as a historic achievement.
He stressed that this achievement is a real translation of determination and steadfastness, adding that this deal was similar to that reached in 1985 by the PFLP GC and Hizbollah.
He added that to clinch such a deal one needs lots of patience and determination and Hamas has both, that is why it managed to achieve this great deal.
He said that the deal united the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and 1948- occupied Palestine. The deal did not distinguish between Palestinians and the fact that it included all female captives reflects the values of our people.
He said that the expression on Netanyahu’s face as he announced the deal reflected defeat.
Families relieved by prisoner swap

Palestinian families are eagerly awaiting the publication of the names of the more than 1,000 detainees that are to be released in a ground-breaking prisoner swap deal with Israel.
The Israeli cabinet approved the agreement today, under which captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed in exchange for 1,029 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Shalit has been in Hamas captivity since June 2006, captured in a cross-border raid executed by Hamas-linked militants. In response, Israel targeted Gaza’s main power station that supplies electricity to Gaza residents.
Outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, Um Mahmoud holds a large photograph of her son Mahmoud Rais, now aged 30. He was arrested in 2003.
“He was detained at an Israeli checkpoint inside Gaza and we never learned why he was sentenced,” she says. “This release is a victory for Palestinians and for the government.”
Um Mohamed also clutches a photograph of her husband Salama Musleh, arrested and detained by Israeli authorities in 2003 for killing an Israeli settler. She claims the settler killed seven Palestinians.
“God wiling I will find my husband’s name on the list, I have been waiting 18 years,” she says, adding: “The Palestinian Authority failed to release Palestinian prisoners without a peace process.”
It is not yet clear whether any children will be included in the release. At the end of June 2011, 209 Palestinian boys aged 12-17 were in Israeli detention, according to UNICEF.
During the reporting period (May and June 2011), 15 cases were documented of ill-treatment - in some cases amounting to torture of Palestinian boys aged 13-17 by the Israeli authorities during arrest, interrogation and detention.
Affidavits were taken for all cases that involved the use of hand-ties (14 instances), blindfolding (11), beatings (10), stripped of clothes (10), exposure to heat/cold/rain (5), kicking (5), and verbal abuse (5).
Hunger strike
Ex-prisoners and families of detainees have been staging a hunger strike outside ICRC headquarters in Gaza City for over a week, in solidarity with the estimated 1,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails who began a massive hunger strike on 27 September protesting inhumane conditions inside the jails.
Strikers’ demands include ending the use of isolation cells and the denial of basic health treatment.
“The ICRC has facilitated medical visits to the strikers from the start,” said ICRC spokesperson Phiri. “We have shifted resources to focus on these prisoners,” he said.
According to the agreement, brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Shalit is expected to be released in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners.
Of these 479 prisoners, 96 are from the West Bank and 131 from the Gaza Strip; they will be allowed to return to their homes. Fourteen prisoners from East Jerusalem and six Israeli Arabs will also be allowed to return to their homes.
About half of the released prisoners (203) will not be allowed to return to their homes. Forty will be deported and the rest transferred to Gaza.
Twenty-seven women, all the women imprisoned in Israel for security offenses, will be released. Two will be deported, one to Gaza and one to Jordan.
In two months, Israel will release another 550 prisoners of its choosing.
Over 5,200 Palestinians were being held in Israeli custody for occupation-related offenses in August, including 29 women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Of that number 272 are administrative detainees, Palestinians held by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial, allegedly for preventive purposes.
“Sigh of relief”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal succeeded in bringing Shalit home, while maintaining the security of Israeli citizens.
Some in Israel, however, questioned the move, concerned that releasing so many Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier could encourage future abductions.
“For the last five years, the Shalit case has shaped the feelings of many Israelis towards Gaza, as well as the policies of successive Israeli governments towards Gaza,” said Sari Bashi, director of Israeli NGO Gisha, the legal center for freedom of movement.
“The sigh of relief is palpable throughout Israel and of course the relief felt by the Shalit family and the families of the prisoners who will be released,” she said.
Israeli men and women must serve in the military. In a country where most families watch their young son or daughter leave for the army, the Shalit case has been an emotional issue.
Arab League urges release of all prisoners
The head of the Arab League on Wednesday welcomed a major prisoner swap that will free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the release of over 1,000 Palestinians, but said that thousands of other Palestinians who are also being held by Israel should also be freed.
Women will be included among the released prisoners, totaling 27, and over 300 of the detainees to be released are serving life terms for violent attacks according to Hamas.
Under the terms of the deal, which was negotiated between the Israeli government and Hamas, Shalit will be released after he was captured in 2006 by militants.
Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi, who met with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis at the League headquarters in Cairo, said the deal was welcome but more needed to be done.
"Tomorrow's meeting is about the resolution of the issue of the prisoners. There are more than 6,000 prisoners, and if 1,000 are released then this is great, and the Arab League welcomes this, but we want the release of all the Palestinian prisoners," he said.
The pact was mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.
The Israeli cabinet approved the agreement today, under which captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed in exchange for 1,029 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Shalit has been in Hamas captivity since June 2006, captured in a cross-border raid executed by Hamas-linked militants. In response, Israel targeted Gaza’s main power station that supplies electricity to Gaza residents.
Outside the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza City, Um Mahmoud holds a large photograph of her son Mahmoud Rais, now aged 30. He was arrested in 2003.
“He was detained at an Israeli checkpoint inside Gaza and we never learned why he was sentenced,” she says. “This release is a victory for Palestinians and for the government.”
Um Mohamed also clutches a photograph of her husband Salama Musleh, arrested and detained by Israeli authorities in 2003 for killing an Israeli settler. She claims the settler killed seven Palestinians.
“God wiling I will find my husband’s name on the list, I have been waiting 18 years,” she says, adding: “The Palestinian Authority failed to release Palestinian prisoners without a peace process.”
It is not yet clear whether any children will be included in the release. At the end of June 2011, 209 Palestinian boys aged 12-17 were in Israeli detention, according to UNICEF.
During the reporting period (May and June 2011), 15 cases were documented of ill-treatment - in some cases amounting to torture of Palestinian boys aged 13-17 by the Israeli authorities during arrest, interrogation and detention.
Affidavits were taken for all cases that involved the use of hand-ties (14 instances), blindfolding (11), beatings (10), stripped of clothes (10), exposure to heat/cold/rain (5), kicking (5), and verbal abuse (5).
Hunger strike
Ex-prisoners and families of detainees have been staging a hunger strike outside ICRC headquarters in Gaza City for over a week, in solidarity with the estimated 1,000 Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails who began a massive hunger strike on 27 September protesting inhumane conditions inside the jails.
Strikers’ demands include ending the use of isolation cells and the denial of basic health treatment.
“The ICRC has facilitated medical visits to the strikers from the start,” said ICRC spokesperson Phiri. “We have shifted resources to focus on these prisoners,” he said.
According to the agreement, brokered by Egyptian intelligence, Shalit is expected to be released in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners.
Of these 479 prisoners, 96 are from the West Bank and 131 from the Gaza Strip; they will be allowed to return to their homes. Fourteen prisoners from East Jerusalem and six Israeli Arabs will also be allowed to return to their homes.
About half of the released prisoners (203) will not be allowed to return to their homes. Forty will be deported and the rest transferred to Gaza.
Twenty-seven women, all the women imprisoned in Israel for security offenses, will be released. Two will be deported, one to Gaza and one to Jordan.
In two months, Israel will release another 550 prisoners of its choosing.
Over 5,200 Palestinians were being held in Israeli custody for occupation-related offenses in August, including 29 women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Of that number 272 are administrative detainees, Palestinians held by the Israeli authorities without charge or trial, allegedly for preventive purposes.
“Sigh of relief”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal succeeded in bringing Shalit home, while maintaining the security of Israeli citizens.
Some in Israel, however, questioned the move, concerned that releasing so many Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier could encourage future abductions.
“For the last five years, the Shalit case has shaped the feelings of many Israelis towards Gaza, as well as the policies of successive Israeli governments towards Gaza,” said Sari Bashi, director of Israeli NGO Gisha, the legal center for freedom of movement.
“The sigh of relief is palpable throughout Israel and of course the relief felt by the Shalit family and the families of the prisoners who will be released,” she said.
Israeli men and women must serve in the military. In a country where most families watch their young son or daughter leave for the army, the Shalit case has been an emotional issue.
Arab League urges release of all prisoners
The head of the Arab League on Wednesday welcomed a major prisoner swap that will free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the release of over 1,000 Palestinians, but said that thousands of other Palestinians who are also being held by Israel should also be freed.
Women will be included among the released prisoners, totaling 27, and over 300 of the detainees to be released are serving life terms for violent attacks according to Hamas.
Under the terms of the deal, which was negotiated between the Israeli government and Hamas, Shalit will be released after he was captured in 2006 by militants.
Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi, who met with Greek Foreign Minister Stavros Lambrinidis at the League headquarters in Cairo, said the deal was welcome but more needed to be done.
"Tomorrow's meeting is about the resolution of the issue of the prisoners. There are more than 6,000 prisoners, and if 1,000 are released then this is great, and the Arab League welcomes this, but we want the release of all the Palestinian prisoners," he said.
The pact was mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.
Israel welcomes Shalit swap with mixed emotions

By Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Israelis welcomed on Wednesday a major prisoner swap that will free soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in captivity in return for the release of 1,000 Palestinians, but emotions were mixed over the lopsided exchange negotiated with Hamas.
"We are proving, for who knows how many times, that each of our soldiers is a world unto himself, and we will make a supreme effort to bring him home. The deal is a tough one, but it was the best possible to reach in these conditions," Home Front Security Minister Matan Vilnai told Israeli Radio.
He said the terms thrashed out since secret negotiations got serious about three months ago did not give the Islamist group Hamas, who hold Shalit, everything they asked for.
"We got the maximum we were able. And we are again proving that we will make supreme efforts to bring our soldiers home. It's the case for every family living in Israel," Vilnai said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won overwhelming cabinet approval for the swap at a special night-time session. He had been under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home.
But some ministers opposed the agreement, warning it would encourage more hostage-taking by militant Palestinians.
Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructure, was one of three in the 29-member cabinet who did not back the deal.
"The release of terrorists is a message that is simple: abductions pay off. Terror pays," he said. "Yesterday unfortunately, with the government decision, one of the things we took into account is that they will begin more vigorously plans for new abductions ... It's a big victory for Hamas."
Hamas and its supporters in the Gaza Strip have threatened to abduct more Israeli soldiers until all 6,000 Palestinians are free from Israeli prisons.
"This deal lays the foundations for a new stage. The enemy's acceptance of the conditions of the resistance did not come from a position of strength, it came from a position of weakness," wrote Deputy Culture Minister Mustafa al-Sawaf in a Gaza newspaper.
Over 300 of the Palestinians to be released are serving life terms, according to Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal.
The deal resolves one of the most emotive and intractable issues between Israel and the Palestinians but has no obvious direct effect on peace negotiations which have been stalled for the past year, apart from potentially improving the climate for a resumption as urged by Washington and its allies.
The breakthrough pact was achieved after many false dawns in years of secret efforts to free Shalit.
The young soldier was grabbed by militants who tunneled into an Israeli army border position next to Gaza in June, 2006. Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, subsequently shutting off the coastal enclave behind a heavily guarded security fence.
Shalit was 19 at the time and is now 25. The last sign of life received from the soldier was a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him pleading for his life.
Deal resolves emotive issues
Sawaf said the deal was a lesson to the Palestinian Authority of Hamas's rival President Mahmoud Abbas and peace negotiators who "humiliate themselves before the enemy."
"We hope Abbas would learn this lesson and abandon illusions that will not achieve a state and will not establish a state. He should reconsider his position and return to the side of Palestinian people," Sawaf wrote.
"Resistance got what it wanted and Hamas fulfilled the promise it made," he asserted.
On the sidelines of the agreed swap, the United States said it was hopeful Israel and the Palestinians would hold a preliminary meeting to revive talks on Oct. 23 in Jordan.
Prospects for peacemaking have been clouded by Abbas' bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state and by Israeli settlement activity, which Abbas has said must stop if negotiations are to begin again.
A source involved in the talks said the pact had been mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.
Israel is to free 1,027 prisoners, including 27 women, in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped simultaneously for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later.
Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service told reporters 110 of the prisoners to be released in the first stage would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 131 would go to the Gaza Strip where they live. Six Palestinian-Israelis were also on the list.
Cohen said 203 prisoners from the West Bank would be exiled to the Gaza Strip or abroad. The move appeared to be an attempt by Israel to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the territory, controlled by Abbas' Palestinian Authority.
Two of the most famous Palestinians serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of the swap, Cohen said. They are Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Abbas's Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001.
Hamas steals Abbas thunder with prisoner deal
By Tom Perry
Hamas has jumped back into the Middle East spotlight with a prisoner swap deal with Israel that will score points over President Mahmoud Abbas and steal some of the thunder he generated by pushing for statehood at the United Nations.
But the deal hailed by the Islamist group which governs Gaza as a national victory was dimmed by Israel's refusal to free some prominent prisoners from rival factions, chief among them Marwan Barghouti -- a leading figure in Abbas' Fatah movement.
Hamas had repeatedly pledged to secure Barghouti's release in any deal to set free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Israel is now set to free more than 1,000 Palestinians for Shalit in the deal announced on Tuesday.
"They would have given up on an important person in Barghouti. Someone important to the national movement," said Hany al-Masri, a political commentator based in Ramallah in the West Bank. "It's still a victory, but not such a great one."
The exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, announcing the deal from his Damascus headquarters, said the prisoners included more than 300 serving life terms in Israeli jails. They were drawn from members of all the Palestinian factions.
But he did not name any of them, fueling early speculation that Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation Of Palestine, had been left out of the deal.
Meshaal described the lopsided swap as "a national achievement" for the Palestinians, whose struggle for statehood has been hindered by the divide between the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Abbas' West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
"This deal embodies and strengthens the unity of the people by including all the factions," Meshaal said.
Though lacking Saadat and Barghouti, the swap will resonate with Palestinians, who regard the 6,000 or more prisoners held by Israel as national heroes and freedom fighters.
From a domestic perspective, the timing comes at a good moment for Hamas. A hunger strike among Palestinian prisoners whose demands include an end to solitary confinement is making daily headlines in the Palestinian media.
Eclipsed by Abbas
The prisoner swap switches attention back to the Islamist group that has appeared eclipsed in recent weeks by Abbas' drive to secure full UN membership for a Palestinian state in the face of stiff US and Israeli opposition.
Hamas' criticism of the diplomatic move had appeared out of tune with public support that peaked with a strong speech Abbas delivered to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.
"Hamas proves again that it has cards and they can pull them out at the speed of light," said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian political commentator. "It's about scoring goals. It isn't a matter of elections, it's about credibility."
For now, the opinion polls are of little consequence to either Fatah or Hamas: neither is likely to face an electoral test any time soon because of the division between Gaza and the West Bank. The split has persisted, despite an agreement announced in May designed to end it.
But credibility matters to both. Abbas, 76, a believer in peace negotiations despite a deadlock that has lasted over a year, has enhanced his standing in recent months, showing a more defiant approach towards Israel and the United States.
He has stuck by his commitment not to return to talks with Israel without a full halt to its settlement construction on land where the Palestinians aim to found an independent state.
And his attempt to secure UN membership, though doomed to failure by the prospect of a US veto, has won support as a welcome change after two decades of negotiations.
Hamas' critics, meanwhile, say the movement has been facing a credibility crisis, struggling to reconcile its commitment to armed struggle against Israel with the responsibilities of governing Gaza, where it seized power from Abbas in 2007.
They have pointed to a contradiction between Hamas' words and deeds as it has sought to rein in militants whose rocket attacks into Israel have drawn punishing reprisals.
In his televised address, a defiant Meshaal promised to secure the release of more prisoners. "We met our promise to you today, and we will do so tomorrow, God willing," he said.
Talal Okal, a Gaza-based commentator, said: "This has restored the shine to Hamas."
Qaq added: "The Hamas movement is sending a message: that negotiations are not worth it, and its method, resistance, is the one that produces results."
Israelis welcomed on Wednesday a major prisoner swap that will free soldier Gilad Shalit after five years in captivity in return for the release of 1,000 Palestinians, but emotions were mixed over the lopsided exchange negotiated with Hamas.
"We are proving, for who knows how many times, that each of our soldiers is a world unto himself, and we will make a supreme effort to bring him home. The deal is a tough one, but it was the best possible to reach in these conditions," Home Front Security Minister Matan Vilnai told Israeli Radio.
He said the terms thrashed out since secret negotiations got serious about three months ago did not give the Islamist group Hamas, who hold Shalit, everything they asked for.
"We got the maximum we were able. And we are again proving that we will make supreme efforts to bring our soldiers home. It's the case for every family living in Israel," Vilnai said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won overwhelming cabinet approval for the swap at a special night-time session. He had been under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home.
But some ministers opposed the agreement, warning it would encourage more hostage-taking by militant Palestinians.
Uzi Landau, Minister of National Infrastructure, was one of three in the 29-member cabinet who did not back the deal.
"The release of terrorists is a message that is simple: abductions pay off. Terror pays," he said. "Yesterday unfortunately, with the government decision, one of the things we took into account is that they will begin more vigorously plans for new abductions ... It's a big victory for Hamas."
Hamas and its supporters in the Gaza Strip have threatened to abduct more Israeli soldiers until all 6,000 Palestinians are free from Israeli prisons.
"This deal lays the foundations for a new stage. The enemy's acceptance of the conditions of the resistance did not come from a position of strength, it came from a position of weakness," wrote Deputy Culture Minister Mustafa al-Sawaf in a Gaza newspaper.
Over 300 of the Palestinians to be released are serving life terms, according to Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal.
The deal resolves one of the most emotive and intractable issues between Israel and the Palestinians but has no obvious direct effect on peace negotiations which have been stalled for the past year, apart from potentially improving the climate for a resumption as urged by Washington and its allies.
The breakthrough pact was achieved after many false dawns in years of secret efforts to free Shalit.
The young soldier was grabbed by militants who tunneled into an Israeli army border position next to Gaza in June, 2006. Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, subsequently shutting off the coastal enclave behind a heavily guarded security fence.
Shalit was 19 at the time and is now 25. The last sign of life received from the soldier was a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him pleading for his life.
Deal resolves emotive issues
Sawaf said the deal was a lesson to the Palestinian Authority of Hamas's rival President Mahmoud Abbas and peace negotiators who "humiliate themselves before the enemy."
"We hope Abbas would learn this lesson and abandon illusions that will not achieve a state and will not establish a state. He should reconsider his position and return to the side of Palestinian people," Sawaf wrote.
"Resistance got what it wanted and Hamas fulfilled the promise it made," he asserted.
On the sidelines of the agreed swap, the United States said it was hopeful Israel and the Palestinians would hold a preliminary meeting to revive talks on Oct. 23 in Jordan.
Prospects for peacemaking have been clouded by Abbas' bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state and by Israeli settlement activity, which Abbas has said must stop if negotiations are to begin again.
A source involved in the talks said the pact had been mediated by Egypt. Its role is likely to strengthen Israel's ties with Cairo, which have suffered since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in a revolution this year.
Israel is to free 1,027 prisoners, including 27 women, in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped simultaneously for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later.
Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service told reporters 110 of the prisoners to be released in the first stage would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 131 would go to the Gaza Strip where they live. Six Palestinian-Israelis were also on the list.
Cohen said 203 prisoners from the West Bank would be exiled to the Gaza Strip or abroad. The move appeared to be an attempt by Israel to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the territory, controlled by Abbas' Palestinian Authority.
Two of the most famous Palestinians serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of the swap, Cohen said. They are Marwan Barghouti, a leader of Abbas's Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001.
Hamas steals Abbas thunder with prisoner deal
By Tom Perry
Hamas has jumped back into the Middle East spotlight with a prisoner swap deal with Israel that will score points over President Mahmoud Abbas and steal some of the thunder he generated by pushing for statehood at the United Nations.
But the deal hailed by the Islamist group which governs Gaza as a national victory was dimmed by Israel's refusal to free some prominent prisoners from rival factions, chief among them Marwan Barghouti -- a leading figure in Abbas' Fatah movement.
Hamas had repeatedly pledged to secure Barghouti's release in any deal to set free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Israel is now set to free more than 1,000 Palestinians for Shalit in the deal announced on Tuesday.
"They would have given up on an important person in Barghouti. Someone important to the national movement," said Hany al-Masri, a political commentator based in Ramallah in the West Bank. "It's still a victory, but not such a great one."
The exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, announcing the deal from his Damascus headquarters, said the prisoners included more than 300 serving life terms in Israeli jails. They were drawn from members of all the Palestinian factions.
But he did not name any of them, fueling early speculation that Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation Of Palestine, had been left out of the deal.
Meshaal described the lopsided swap as "a national achievement" for the Palestinians, whose struggle for statehood has been hindered by the divide between the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Abbas' West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
"This deal embodies and strengthens the unity of the people by including all the factions," Meshaal said.
Though lacking Saadat and Barghouti, the swap will resonate with Palestinians, who regard the 6,000 or more prisoners held by Israel as national heroes and freedom fighters.
From a domestic perspective, the timing comes at a good moment for Hamas. A hunger strike among Palestinian prisoners whose demands include an end to solitary confinement is making daily headlines in the Palestinian media.
Eclipsed by Abbas
The prisoner swap switches attention back to the Islamist group that has appeared eclipsed in recent weeks by Abbas' drive to secure full UN membership for a Palestinian state in the face of stiff US and Israeli opposition.
Hamas' criticism of the diplomatic move had appeared out of tune with public support that peaked with a strong speech Abbas delivered to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 23.
"Hamas proves again that it has cards and they can pull them out at the speed of light," said Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian political commentator. "It's about scoring goals. It isn't a matter of elections, it's about credibility."
For now, the opinion polls are of little consequence to either Fatah or Hamas: neither is likely to face an electoral test any time soon because of the division between Gaza and the West Bank. The split has persisted, despite an agreement announced in May designed to end it.
But credibility matters to both. Abbas, 76, a believer in peace negotiations despite a deadlock that has lasted over a year, has enhanced his standing in recent months, showing a more defiant approach towards Israel and the United States.
He has stuck by his commitment not to return to talks with Israel without a full halt to its settlement construction on land where the Palestinians aim to found an independent state.
And his attempt to secure UN membership, though doomed to failure by the prospect of a US veto, has won support as a welcome change after two decades of negotiations.
Hamas' critics, meanwhile, say the movement has been facing a credibility crisis, struggling to reconcile its commitment to armed struggle against Israel with the responsibilities of governing Gaza, where it seized power from Abbas in 2007.
They have pointed to a contradiction between Hamas' words and deeds as it has sought to rein in militants whose rocket attacks into Israel have drawn punishing reprisals.
In his televised address, a defiant Meshaal promised to secure the release of more prisoners. "We met our promise to you today, and we will do so tomorrow, God willing," he said.
Talal Okal, a Gaza-based commentator, said: "This has restored the shine to Hamas."
Qaq added: "The Hamas movement is sending a message: that negotiations are not worth it, and its method, resistance, is the one that produces results."
Official: Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat won't be freed

Marwan Barghouti
Two of the most famous militants serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of a mass prisoner swap agreed with Hamas, Israel's top security official said on Tuesday.
Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic leader of the Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001, will not be freed, the head of Israel's Shin Bet spy agency said.
Two of the most famous militants serving time in Israeli prisons are not part of a mass prisoner swap agreed with Hamas, Israel's top security official said on Tuesday.
Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic leader of the Fatah faction serving five life prison terms for murder, and Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the murder of Israel's tourism minister in 2001, will not be freed, the head of Israel's Shin Bet spy agency said.
Ahmed Saadat
Israel announced on Tuesday it was ready to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit in a deal struck with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. In previous negotiations aimed at securing Shalit's release, the names of both Barghouti and Saadat had often been raised, but Shin Bet chief, Yoram Cohen, told reporters that neither man was included in the final accord. |
Details emerge of prisoner swap

By Ori Lewis and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Prospects of a long-elusive deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began to take off in July, Israel's negotiator said on Tuesday.
David Meidan, who did the talking for Israel, said Israeli intelligence identified three months ago that the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip and holds Shalit had become more pragmatic and was ready to do a deal with Egypt as mediator.
"From that point on things took off," said Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, who briefed reporters along with Meidan.
Rumors of an imminent prisoner-swap agreement with Hamas that would bring Shalit home have surfaced on several occasions in the past three years, and on two occasions a deal was thought to be very close, but final agreement eluded the two sides.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government and Hamas had initialed a prisoner swap pact last Thursday and had finalized it on Tuesday.
Israel will free 450 people in the coming days in the first phase of the exchange while Hamas releases Shalit, who was 19 when he was abducted by the Gaza border in 2006. A further 550 Palestinians would be freed later.
Cohen said 203 would go into exile in countries not yet named, 110 would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 131 to Gaza. Six Israeli Arabs would also be released.
The list did not include activist Marwan Barghouti, convicted of murder for his role in attacks on Israelis during a Palestinian uprising, or Ahmed Saadat, a faction leader who master-minded the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001.
Signed in Cairo
The deal was signed for Hamas by Nizar Awadalah in Cairo at the end of a final session which lasted 24 hours and concluded at breakfast time on Tuesday.
Hamas has lost political leverage to its rival Fatah in recent months as President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, seized the diplomatic initiative with a campaign to win statehood for Palestine through full United Nations membership.
The armed movement has clamped down on smaller militant groups which carried out cross-border rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, risking Israeli military retaliation.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hailed the swap as "a national achievement" and celebrations broke out in the blockaded enclave which Hamas took over in a brief war with Fatah in 2007.
Cohen and Meidan, the last in a series of Israeli negotiators, praised the Egyptians, saying they played a vital and instrumental role in securing the deal and had facilitated its conclusion in a professional manner.
Israel's relations with Egypt were likely to be reinforced by the cooperation, after months of strain following the toppling of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak which stirred fears among Israelis that their peace pact could be revoked by Egypt's future leaders.
Arab Spring
Announcing the deal to his cabinet, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.
"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.
"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."
In 2009, negotiations on a swap foundered when Israel described 100 prisoners whose release was sought by Hamas as posing particular security risks and said they would never be freed.
A non-Israeli official involved in the talks, but speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters in Gaza that the ice began to break three months ago, when Israel and Hamas held indirect talks and both began to show more flexibility.
"Israel offered a big part of those names. Hamas sacrificed some names as well and they met in the middle," he said.
He said Israel had agreed to free some of the top militants whose names are not well known in Israel. Meidan said Israel had refused to free some of "the worst murderers".
Netanyahu was involved the whole time through his negotiators deal, the official told Reuters in Gaza.
Netanyahu telephoned Egypt's chief of intelligence Murad Muwafi when the agreement was made in principle and gave it the green light, and Israel's President Shimon Peres agreed to amnesty for those Palestinians to be freed.
Popular revolt in the Arab world had helped improve the negotiating climate, he said, supporting Israeli comments that Hamas -- which was slow to endorse the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt -- felt its room for maneuver shrinking.
"Circumstances changed and Israel was aware of that and the changes in the surrounding areas helped getting things done."
Update: Joyful Palestinians celebrate prisoner swap
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired guns in the air and blared their car horns Tuesday to celebrate a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, which will exchange 1,000 Palestinians for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.
Hailed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a speech from Damascus as a "national achievement", the prisoner swap was the best news Gaza has had for years.
Israeli and Hamas leaders announced the signing of the Egyptian-brokered deal, clinched after many failed attempts in secret talks since Shalit was abducted by gunmen in the summer of 2006.
It is expected to begin in the coming days, and the names of those to be freed have yet to be published.
But Abdel-Karim Abu Attaya, 76, was already looked forward to a reunion with his son Mohammed, who has served 20 years in an Israeli jail for being a member of the Hamas armed wing and carrying out attacks against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, which ended in 2005.
"Happiness brought tears to my eyes," he said, adding that he would see to it that his son soon had a wife.
"I am the happiest man. I congratulate the family of Gilad Shalit as well. I hope all Palestinian prisoners will be freed," the father of eleven said.
Gunmen fired rifles and congratulations were issued from the loudspeakers of Gaza's many mosques.
"We must continue in our struggle until all prisoners are freed," said Abdallah Abu Huwaidy. Some 6,000 Palestinians are serving sentences in prisons in Israel, which Hamas refuses to recognise.
Thousands of Gaza residents from all political factions rallied across the narrow coastal enclave to celebrate news of the deal, which Hamas officials said would include prisoners of the various militant groups.
Abu Attaya, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, whose fighters joined Hamas in the capture of Shalit, said militants would kidnap more Israeli soldiers until all Palestinian prisoners are freed.
"The coming weeks and month will witness more responses and more, similar operations. We will continue the same path to kidnap Zionist soldiers in order to clear all prisons," the masked spokesman said, clutching an assault rifle.
"Today the resistance talks," an activist cried over the loudspeaker of one mosque. "Today the enemy submitted to our demands and that was just the start."
Update: Abbas applauds Israel-Hamas prisoner deal
President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday threw his support behind a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel that would free 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
"We congratulate the exchange deal, and we will continue exerting our best efforts to free all prisoners" held by Israel, Abbas told Ma'an in Venezuela, where he is on a state visit.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Israel will release 1,027 prisoners in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later. Twenty-seven women are among those on the release roster.
"We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners," Meshaal said in a televised address from Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking his cabinet to approve the lopsided swap and under constant public pressure to bring Gilad Shalit home, said the soldier would be reunited with his family "in the coming days".
Prospects of a long-elusive deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began to take off in July, Israel's negotiator said on Tuesday.
David Meidan, who did the talking for Israel, said Israeli intelligence identified three months ago that the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip and holds Shalit had become more pragmatic and was ready to do a deal with Egypt as mediator.
"From that point on things took off," said Yoram Cohen, head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, who briefed reporters along with Meidan.
Rumors of an imminent prisoner-swap agreement with Hamas that would bring Shalit home have surfaced on several occasions in the past three years, and on two occasions a deal was thought to be very close, but final agreement eluded the two sides.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government and Hamas had initialed a prisoner swap pact last Thursday and had finalized it on Tuesday.
Israel will free 450 people in the coming days in the first phase of the exchange while Hamas releases Shalit, who was 19 when he was abducted by the Gaza border in 2006. A further 550 Palestinians would be freed later.
Cohen said 203 would go into exile in countries not yet named, 110 would go home to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 131 to Gaza. Six Israeli Arabs would also be released.
The list did not include activist Marwan Barghouti, convicted of murder for his role in attacks on Israelis during a Palestinian uprising, or Ahmed Saadat, a faction leader who master-minded the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001.
Signed in Cairo
The deal was signed for Hamas by Nizar Awadalah in Cairo at the end of a final session which lasted 24 hours and concluded at breakfast time on Tuesday.
Hamas has lost political leverage to its rival Fatah in recent months as President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, seized the diplomatic initiative with a campaign to win statehood for Palestine through full United Nations membership.
The armed movement has clamped down on smaller militant groups which carried out cross-border rocket and mortar attacks against Israel, risking Israeli military retaliation.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hailed the swap as "a national achievement" and celebrations broke out in the blockaded enclave which Hamas took over in a brief war with Fatah in 2007.
Cohen and Meidan, the last in a series of Israeli negotiators, praised the Egyptians, saying they played a vital and instrumental role in securing the deal and had facilitated its conclusion in a professional manner.
Israel's relations with Egypt were likely to be reinforced by the cooperation, after months of strain following the toppling of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak which stirred fears among Israelis that their peace pact could be revoked by Egypt's future leaders.
Arab Spring
Announcing the deal to his cabinet, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.
"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.
"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."
In 2009, negotiations on a swap foundered when Israel described 100 prisoners whose release was sought by Hamas as posing particular security risks and said they would never be freed.
A non-Israeli official involved in the talks, but speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters in Gaza that the ice began to break three months ago, when Israel and Hamas held indirect talks and both began to show more flexibility.
"Israel offered a big part of those names. Hamas sacrificed some names as well and they met in the middle," he said.
He said Israel had agreed to free some of the top militants whose names are not well known in Israel. Meidan said Israel had refused to free some of "the worst murderers".
Netanyahu was involved the whole time through his negotiators deal, the official told Reuters in Gaza.
Netanyahu telephoned Egypt's chief of intelligence Murad Muwafi when the agreement was made in principle and gave it the green light, and Israel's President Shimon Peres agreed to amnesty for those Palestinians to be freed.
Popular revolt in the Arab world had helped improve the negotiating climate, he said, supporting Israeli comments that Hamas -- which was slow to endorse the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt -- felt its room for maneuver shrinking.
"Circumstances changed and Israel was aware of that and the changes in the surrounding areas helped getting things done."
Update: Joyful Palestinians celebrate prisoner swap
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired guns in the air and blared their car horns Tuesday to celebrate a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, which will exchange 1,000 Palestinians for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.
Hailed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a speech from Damascus as a "national achievement", the prisoner swap was the best news Gaza has had for years.
Israeli and Hamas leaders announced the signing of the Egyptian-brokered deal, clinched after many failed attempts in secret talks since Shalit was abducted by gunmen in the summer of 2006.
It is expected to begin in the coming days, and the names of those to be freed have yet to be published.
But Abdel-Karim Abu Attaya, 76, was already looked forward to a reunion with his son Mohammed, who has served 20 years in an Israeli jail for being a member of the Hamas armed wing and carrying out attacks against the Israeli occupation of Gaza, which ended in 2005.
"Happiness brought tears to my eyes," he said, adding that he would see to it that his son soon had a wife.
"I am the happiest man. I congratulate the family of Gilad Shalit as well. I hope all Palestinian prisoners will be freed," the father of eleven said.
Gunmen fired rifles and congratulations were issued from the loudspeakers of Gaza's many mosques.
"We must continue in our struggle until all prisoners are freed," said Abdallah Abu Huwaidy. Some 6,000 Palestinians are serving sentences in prisons in Israel, which Hamas refuses to recognise.
Thousands of Gaza residents from all political factions rallied across the narrow coastal enclave to celebrate news of the deal, which Hamas officials said would include prisoners of the various militant groups.
Abu Attaya, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, whose fighters joined Hamas in the capture of Shalit, said militants would kidnap more Israeli soldiers until all Palestinian prisoners are freed.
"The coming weeks and month will witness more responses and more, similar operations. We will continue the same path to kidnap Zionist soldiers in order to clear all prisons," the masked spokesman said, clutching an assault rifle.
"Today the resistance talks," an activist cried over the loudspeaker of one mosque. "Today the enemy submitted to our demands and that was just the start."
Update: Abbas applauds Israel-Hamas prisoner deal
President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday threw his support behind a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel that would free 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
"We congratulate the exchange deal, and we will continue exerting our best efforts to free all prisoners" held by Israel, Abbas told Ma'an in Venezuela, where he is on a state visit.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Israel will release 1,027 prisoners in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later. Twenty-seven women are among those on the release roster.
"We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners," Meshaal said in a televised address from Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking his cabinet to approve the lopsided swap and under constant public pressure to bring Gilad Shalit home, said the soldier would be reunited with his family "in the coming days".
11 oct 2011
Who Gains, Who Loses in Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap to Free Gilad Shalit?

Win-win outcomes are all too rare in the Middle East, but the agreement that will see Hamas free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for a reported 1,000 Palestinian prisoners will allow each of its stakeholders to claim victory.
Details of the deal concluded in Cairo under Egyptian mediation remain sketchy, but it is believed to involve securing Shalit’s release from Hamas captivity in exchange for some 1,000 prisoners — 450 of whom will be named by Hamas, and 550 to be named later on by Israel, and will include as many as 315 men convicted of killing hundreds of Israelis in terror attacks, to whose release the Israelis had strenuously objected in the past. Shalit was seized from the Israeli side of the Gaza boundary in mid-2006. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal said Tuesday the exchange will begin within a week, with 450 Palestinian prisoners, and Shalit, being transferred to Egypt.
Hamas spokesmen claimed Tuesday that among the men to be released is Marwan Barghouti, the popular Fatah leader widely viewed as a potential successor (and quite possibly also rival) to President Mahmoud Abbas. According to some Israeli reports, Barghouti will be required to accept exile from the West Bank. Another powerful symbol among those to be released is the Hamas militant Abdullah Barghouti (no relation), serving 67 life sentences for building bombs used in suicide attacks. (Update: Israel later insisted neither Barghouti would be released.)
(SEE: Photos of the Saga of Gilad Shalit)
If the deal is implemented, there are plenty of political spoils to go around:
* Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will gain the kudos for having done a painful deal to bring home a young man whose captivity had been a source of enduring national anguish and pain. The modest smiles on the faces of his parents, Noam and Aviva Shalit, upon hearing the news that their son will finally see the light of day after five years and four months of grueling secret captivity, will be hailed as an iconic moment in Israel.
* For Hamas, the deal will be hailed as a major achievement — having forced the Israelis to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners (of all factions), the Islamist movement will have scored a win on one of the most powerful emotive issues for residents of the West Bank and Gaza, and it will claim to have demonstrated that it was the steadfastness of the “resistance” rather President Mahmoud Abbas’ negotiations and diplomacy that forced Israel to concede. The agreement will serve as a stark reminder of Hamas’ centrality to the Palestinian political equation, despite its absence from levers of power in the Palestinian Authority. The fact that Hamas, rather than Abbas, was able to secure the release of key Fatah prisoners, some of whom had served as many 25 years, will sweeten the victory for the Islamists.
* And for Egypt, which brokered the final deal after German mediation efforts had faltered, it has provided an opportunity to demonstrate to the Israelis (and Americans) as well to the Palestinians that the military junta that replaced President Hosni Mubarak can play a responsible role in mediating positive outcomes.
Needless to say, there’s little political gain in the deal for Abbas, currently on a world tour to boost support for his effort to win U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority has had no part in negotiating the prisoner swap, and holds no sway over events in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
In Caracas, Abbas told TIME’s Karl Vick, who is traveling with the Palestinian leader on his diplomatic roadshow, that “all in all it is good, of course. To release 1,000 prisoners is good for us, for the families.” He claimed he wasn’t worried if this would boost Hamas, a political rival: “Whether they are with us or against us, they are Palestinians. Any release of any prisoner is in the interest of every Palestinian.”
Still, Abbas is more likely to be hoping that the attention garnered by the prisoner swap passes quickly, to allow his diplomatic quest to reclaim the Palestinian spotlight — although Hamas has no interest in letting that happen.
It’s not yet clear why a deal whose parameters appear to be broadly similar to ones that have been on the table – and rejected by one side or the other — for the best part of four years now were suddenly acceptable. One of the key sticking points in the recent past has been the question of where freed Palestinian prisoners will live, and whether they will include residents of East Jerusalem. Hamas claims to have prevailed on the latter, but it’s not clear whether the prisoners will be allowed to return to their homes, as the Islamists have insisted, or whether they’ve bowed to the Israeli demand that some of those from the West Bank be transferred to Gaza, and others be required to live in exile. It may be days before those details are disclosed, and also the full list of those to be freed.
Hamas’ circumstances outside of Gaza have certainly become increasingly precarious in the course of the Syrian rebellion, that has jeopardized the movement’s political sanctuary in Damascus. The Assad regime has demanded public support from the Palestinian group, but Hamas has declined to provide that — its own roots in the Muslim Brotherhood give Hamas ties of political kinship with the Syrian chapter of the movement, which is at the forefront of confrontations with the Assad regime. Hamas’ equivocation in the face of the Syrian crisis has drawn punishment from Iran, which has reportedly cut off funding to Gaza, where Hamas has reportedly been unable to pay salaries for months. And some Syrian officials even accuse the moment of directly backing the insurrection. So, Hamas may be looking for new digs, and it behooves the movement’s leadership to make nice with Egypt while it considers its options.
For the Israelis, there was a sense that the rapidly changes in the regional environment that began with the rebellions in Egypt and Tunisia last spring could jeopardize prospects for achieving Shalit’s freedom. “We had a fear that the window of opportunity was closing,” Netanyahu said ahead of the Israeli cabinet meeting to discuss the deal. Hamas’ circumstances in Syria were changing, and the Egyptian military regime whose cooperation he praised may not necessarily be a long-term fixture.
And an Egyptian military leadership operating in an environment where it has legalized the Muslim Brotherhood and spoken of a democratic political process would not necessarily share Mubarak’s reluctance to see Hamas win a victory.
There will be pain and regret, inevitably, when the lists of those to be freed are released — from Israelis who have suffered at the hands of those who will now walk free, and from Palestinians whose loved ones were not on the list (there are thousands) and whose hopes of getting them freed in the foreseeable future will have been dashed. But the smiles on the faces of Noam and Aviva Shalit, and those that can be expected on the faces of a thousand Palestinian families when their own sons are freed, offers an all-too-rare moment free of pain in the enduring conflict.
Read more: http://world.time.com/2011/10/11/who-gains-who-loses-in-israel-hamas-prisoner-swap/#ixzz2SRuh4K00
Israel: Arab Spring forced us to accept Hamas's demands for freeing Shalit
From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
After losing all hopes for rescuing imprisoned Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is held in the Gaza Strip, Israel has apparently agreed to accept virtually all Hamas's conditions for a prisoner swap deal that would also see the release from Israeli jails and dungeons of as many as a thousand Palestinian prisoners, including men, women, and children.
Israeli prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said an agreement with Hamas had been reached and that Shalit would be returning home in the coming days.
Speaking during an emergency session of his cabinet Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said there was a window of opportunity to release Shalit which he said the government decided to seize.
Acting otherwise, he added, and in light of the "storms" blowing throughout the Arab world, could mean that "Shalit may never come back."
Netanyahu was apparently alluding to the Arab Spring and the collapse of pro-Israeli regimes in both Egypt and Tunisia .
Hamas' officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad have confirmed the conclusion of a swap agreement with Israel.
In Damascus, Hamas' leader Khaled Mishaal revealed details of the long-awaited deal. He told an impromptu news conference in the Syrian capital that the swap deal stipulated the release of a thousand male prisoners as well as 27 female prisoners.
He also pointed out that the deal would see prisoners with multiple life-imprisonment terms from Jerusalem and the Arab community in Israel released.
Mishaal added that the deal would be carried out in two stages, first the transfer of Shalit outside the Gaza Strip, which would coincide with the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, and second the release of the rest of the prisoners once Shalit returns to Israel.
Mishaal saluted the people of Gaza for their sacrifices and also thanked Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Germany for their positive roles in concluding the deal.
Abu Ubaida, a resistance Islamist leader in Gaza told al-Jazeera Television Tuesday night that the agreement was a landmark victory for Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions.
"This is a great victory for the Palestinian people. We send this gift to the martyrs, including Sheikh Ahmed Yasin."
He said that Israel was forced to accede to virtually all the demands and conditions of Hamas.
According to the agreement, all women and children prisoners will also be freed.
Among prisoner leaders to be released are the main commanders of Hamas's resistance wing including Abdullah Barghouthi, Yahya Sinwar, Abdullah al Sayed as well as leaders of the Islamic Jihad organization. Marwan el Barghouthi, the imprisoned Fatah leader, and Ahmed Saadat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) will be among the freed prisoners.
A spokesman of the resistance movement in Gaza, Abu Mujahed, attributed the success of the deal to "the resilience and unflinching determination of the resistance to see to it that all our demands are met."
"It was not easy, but eventually we are about to get what we wanted."
He added that Palestinian freedom fighters knew from the very inception that Israel wouldn't agree to free that many prisoners unless it was forced to.
"Israel only understands this language."
Abu Mujahed said the deal also stipulated that Israel would meet all the demands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have gone on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against worsening prison conditions.
Egypt reportedly played a key role in concluding the deal.
An Egyptian official was quoted as saying that "after 64 months of tough negotiations we were able to complete the deal. It was a very difficult task, which included thousands of hours of negotiations."
Egyptian officials have also said that the deal which has been reached also includes the release of accused Israeli spy Ilan Garpel.
During deliberations leading up to the Israeli acceptance of the deal, Netanyahu reportedly told his ministers that failing to endorse the deal would probably doom Shalit's fate forever.
"If the government fails to approve the deal, the whole move to release Shalit could go down the drain, conceivably postponing his release by many years."
Netanyahu spoke of "powerful storms" hovering over the Arab world, which he said would make rescuing Shalit utterly unlikely if the government didn't seize this opportunity.
The deal is widely viewed as a great moral and political booster for Hamas. It is also likely to contribute to further enhancing relations between Hamas and Cairo.
Moreover, many Palestinians feel the deal will be especially auspicious in terms of pushing national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas forward.
Hamas's fighters, along with fighters from the People Resistance and Army of Islam took part in the military operation on 25 June, 2006, during which Shalit was taken prisoners.
Israel tried in vain every conceivable feat and trick to repatriate Shalit, including launching widespread and murderous aggressions against the Gaza Strip in which thousands of Palestinians lost their lives.
Mishaal: The deal stipulates release of 1027 Palestinian captives
Head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mishaal, revealed that the prisoner exchange deal reached between Hamas and the Israeli occupation through German and Egyptian mediation, stipulates the release of 1027 Palestinian captives in exchange for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.
In a televised speech on Tuesday evening Mishaal said: "The exchange deal will be in two stages; the first stage will see 450 captives released within a week, the second stage will see the release of 550 after two months of the first stage."
He also said that all 27 female captives will be released and the first stage will include 315 captives serving life sentences.
He added that his movement was keen on including captives who entered prison at various stages of the Palestinian struggle from various factions as well as captives from various areas; Jerusalem, 1948- occupied Palestine, the Golan and the diaspora, pointing out this was an expression of the unity of the Palestinian people everywhere.
Mishaal described the deal as a “national achievement,” adding “To my brothers in the PA and Palestinian factions inside and outside Palestine I say this achievement belongs to all of us. We are proud of it and prepare for further achievements. Let us join hands and plan for more achievements for our national project until we liberate out Palestine and establish our state."
He promised that his movement will spare no efforts to get the rest of the Palestinian captives released.
He praised the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian factions who participated in capturing the occupation soldier Gilad Shalit to exchange him for Palestinian captives.
Hamas confirms prisoner swap deal
Hamas says the Palestinian resistance movement has reached an agreement for a prisoner exchange with the Israeli regime.
According to a Hamas source who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, the deal would be implemented “within days,” AFP reported.
“A deal between Hamas and Israel has been reached with full Egyptian mediation on the implementation of a prisoner exchange within a week,” the source said.
The source added that Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal was expected to deliver “an important address,” which was expected to be related to the long-awaited deal.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss what his office described as “a serious proposal” for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was captured in June 2006 by Palestinian fighters after he infiltrated into the Gaza Strip. Hamas requested the release of 1,400 Palestinians held without charge in Israeli prisons in exchange for the Israeli soldier.
Several rounds of talks over a prisoner exchange deal have been unsuccessful despite the efforts of mediators including Egypt and Germany to help the sides agree a release accord.
Germany's previous efforts to finalize the deal fell through in 2010 when Israel refused to release dozens of the detainees on the Hamas list.
The agreement on Tuesday came as Israeli troops attacked Palestinian demonstrators who had gathered outside Ofer Prison and went on hunger strike in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Protesters expressed anger about the conditions under which Palestinians are held at Ofer Prison and other Israeli detention facilities.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, about 6,000 Palestinian detainees are currently held in Israeli prisons.
Details of the deal concluded in Cairo under Egyptian mediation remain sketchy, but it is believed to involve securing Shalit’s release from Hamas captivity in exchange for some 1,000 prisoners — 450 of whom will be named by Hamas, and 550 to be named later on by Israel, and will include as many as 315 men convicted of killing hundreds of Israelis in terror attacks, to whose release the Israelis had strenuously objected in the past. Shalit was seized from the Israeli side of the Gaza boundary in mid-2006. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal said Tuesday the exchange will begin within a week, with 450 Palestinian prisoners, and Shalit, being transferred to Egypt.
Hamas spokesmen claimed Tuesday that among the men to be released is Marwan Barghouti, the popular Fatah leader widely viewed as a potential successor (and quite possibly also rival) to President Mahmoud Abbas. According to some Israeli reports, Barghouti will be required to accept exile from the West Bank. Another powerful symbol among those to be released is the Hamas militant Abdullah Barghouti (no relation), serving 67 life sentences for building bombs used in suicide attacks. (Update: Israel later insisted neither Barghouti would be released.)
(SEE: Photos of the Saga of Gilad Shalit)
If the deal is implemented, there are plenty of political spoils to go around:
* Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will gain the kudos for having done a painful deal to bring home a young man whose captivity had been a source of enduring national anguish and pain. The modest smiles on the faces of his parents, Noam and Aviva Shalit, upon hearing the news that their son will finally see the light of day after five years and four months of grueling secret captivity, will be hailed as an iconic moment in Israel.
* For Hamas, the deal will be hailed as a major achievement — having forced the Israelis to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners (of all factions), the Islamist movement will have scored a win on one of the most powerful emotive issues for residents of the West Bank and Gaza, and it will claim to have demonstrated that it was the steadfastness of the “resistance” rather President Mahmoud Abbas’ negotiations and diplomacy that forced Israel to concede. The agreement will serve as a stark reminder of Hamas’ centrality to the Palestinian political equation, despite its absence from levers of power in the Palestinian Authority. The fact that Hamas, rather than Abbas, was able to secure the release of key Fatah prisoners, some of whom had served as many 25 years, will sweeten the victory for the Islamists.
* And for Egypt, which brokered the final deal after German mediation efforts had faltered, it has provided an opportunity to demonstrate to the Israelis (and Americans) as well to the Palestinians that the military junta that replaced President Hosni Mubarak can play a responsible role in mediating positive outcomes.
Needless to say, there’s little political gain in the deal for Abbas, currently on a world tour to boost support for his effort to win U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority has had no part in negotiating the prisoner swap, and holds no sway over events in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
In Caracas, Abbas told TIME’s Karl Vick, who is traveling with the Palestinian leader on his diplomatic roadshow, that “all in all it is good, of course. To release 1,000 prisoners is good for us, for the families.” He claimed he wasn’t worried if this would boost Hamas, a political rival: “Whether they are with us or against us, they are Palestinians. Any release of any prisoner is in the interest of every Palestinian.”
Still, Abbas is more likely to be hoping that the attention garnered by the prisoner swap passes quickly, to allow his diplomatic quest to reclaim the Palestinian spotlight — although Hamas has no interest in letting that happen.
It’s not yet clear why a deal whose parameters appear to be broadly similar to ones that have been on the table – and rejected by one side or the other — for the best part of four years now were suddenly acceptable. One of the key sticking points in the recent past has been the question of where freed Palestinian prisoners will live, and whether they will include residents of East Jerusalem. Hamas claims to have prevailed on the latter, but it’s not clear whether the prisoners will be allowed to return to their homes, as the Islamists have insisted, or whether they’ve bowed to the Israeli demand that some of those from the West Bank be transferred to Gaza, and others be required to live in exile. It may be days before those details are disclosed, and also the full list of those to be freed.
Hamas’ circumstances outside of Gaza have certainly become increasingly precarious in the course of the Syrian rebellion, that has jeopardized the movement’s political sanctuary in Damascus. The Assad regime has demanded public support from the Palestinian group, but Hamas has declined to provide that — its own roots in the Muslim Brotherhood give Hamas ties of political kinship with the Syrian chapter of the movement, which is at the forefront of confrontations with the Assad regime. Hamas’ equivocation in the face of the Syrian crisis has drawn punishment from Iran, which has reportedly cut off funding to Gaza, where Hamas has reportedly been unable to pay salaries for months. And some Syrian officials even accuse the moment of directly backing the insurrection. So, Hamas may be looking for new digs, and it behooves the movement’s leadership to make nice with Egypt while it considers its options.
For the Israelis, there was a sense that the rapidly changes in the regional environment that began with the rebellions in Egypt and Tunisia last spring could jeopardize prospects for achieving Shalit’s freedom. “We had a fear that the window of opportunity was closing,” Netanyahu said ahead of the Israeli cabinet meeting to discuss the deal. Hamas’ circumstances in Syria were changing, and the Egyptian military regime whose cooperation he praised may not necessarily be a long-term fixture.
And an Egyptian military leadership operating in an environment where it has legalized the Muslim Brotherhood and spoken of a democratic political process would not necessarily share Mubarak’s reluctance to see Hamas win a victory.
There will be pain and regret, inevitably, when the lists of those to be freed are released — from Israelis who have suffered at the hands of those who will now walk free, and from Palestinians whose loved ones were not on the list (there are thousands) and whose hopes of getting them freed in the foreseeable future will have been dashed. But the smiles on the faces of Noam and Aviva Shalit, and those that can be expected on the faces of a thousand Palestinian families when their own sons are freed, offers an all-too-rare moment free of pain in the enduring conflict.
Read more: http://world.time.com/2011/10/11/who-gains-who-loses-in-israel-hamas-prisoner-swap/#ixzz2SRuh4K00
Israel: Arab Spring forced us to accept Hamas's demands for freeing Shalit
From Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
After losing all hopes for rescuing imprisoned Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is held in the Gaza Strip, Israel has apparently agreed to accept virtually all Hamas's conditions for a prisoner swap deal that would also see the release from Israeli jails and dungeons of as many as a thousand Palestinian prisoners, including men, women, and children.
Israeli prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said an agreement with Hamas had been reached and that Shalit would be returning home in the coming days.
Speaking during an emergency session of his cabinet Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said there was a window of opportunity to release Shalit which he said the government decided to seize.
Acting otherwise, he added, and in light of the "storms" blowing throughout the Arab world, could mean that "Shalit may never come back."
Netanyahu was apparently alluding to the Arab Spring and the collapse of pro-Israeli regimes in both Egypt and Tunisia .
Hamas' officials in the Gaza Strip and abroad have confirmed the conclusion of a swap agreement with Israel.
In Damascus, Hamas' leader Khaled Mishaal revealed details of the long-awaited deal. He told an impromptu news conference in the Syrian capital that the swap deal stipulated the release of a thousand male prisoners as well as 27 female prisoners.
He also pointed out that the deal would see prisoners with multiple life-imprisonment terms from Jerusalem and the Arab community in Israel released.
Mishaal added that the deal would be carried out in two stages, first the transfer of Shalit outside the Gaza Strip, which would coincide with the release of 450 Palestinian prisoners, and second the release of the rest of the prisoners once Shalit returns to Israel.
Mishaal saluted the people of Gaza for their sacrifices and also thanked Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Germany for their positive roles in concluding the deal.
Abu Ubaida, a resistance Islamist leader in Gaza told al-Jazeera Television Tuesday night that the agreement was a landmark victory for Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions.
"This is a great victory for the Palestinian people. We send this gift to the martyrs, including Sheikh Ahmed Yasin."
He said that Israel was forced to accede to virtually all the demands and conditions of Hamas.
According to the agreement, all women and children prisoners will also be freed.
Among prisoner leaders to be released are the main commanders of Hamas's resistance wing including Abdullah Barghouthi, Yahya Sinwar, Abdullah al Sayed as well as leaders of the Islamic Jihad organization. Marwan el Barghouthi, the imprisoned Fatah leader, and Ahmed Saadat, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) will be among the freed prisoners.
A spokesman of the resistance movement in Gaza, Abu Mujahed, attributed the success of the deal to "the resilience and unflinching determination of the resistance to see to it that all our demands are met."
"It was not easy, but eventually we are about to get what we wanted."
He added that Palestinian freedom fighters knew from the very inception that Israel wouldn't agree to free that many prisoners unless it was forced to.
"Israel only understands this language."
Abu Mujahed said the deal also stipulated that Israel would meet all the demands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who have gone on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against worsening prison conditions.
Egypt reportedly played a key role in concluding the deal.
An Egyptian official was quoted as saying that "after 64 months of tough negotiations we were able to complete the deal. It was a very difficult task, which included thousands of hours of negotiations."
Egyptian officials have also said that the deal which has been reached also includes the release of accused Israeli spy Ilan Garpel.
During deliberations leading up to the Israeli acceptance of the deal, Netanyahu reportedly told his ministers that failing to endorse the deal would probably doom Shalit's fate forever.
"If the government fails to approve the deal, the whole move to release Shalit could go down the drain, conceivably postponing his release by many years."
Netanyahu spoke of "powerful storms" hovering over the Arab world, which he said would make rescuing Shalit utterly unlikely if the government didn't seize this opportunity.
The deal is widely viewed as a great moral and political booster for Hamas. It is also likely to contribute to further enhancing relations between Hamas and Cairo.
Moreover, many Palestinians feel the deal will be especially auspicious in terms of pushing national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas forward.
Hamas's fighters, along with fighters from the People Resistance and Army of Islam took part in the military operation on 25 June, 2006, during which Shalit was taken prisoners.
Israel tried in vain every conceivable feat and trick to repatriate Shalit, including launching widespread and murderous aggressions against the Gaza Strip in which thousands of Palestinians lost their lives.
Mishaal: The deal stipulates release of 1027 Palestinian captives
Head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mishaal, revealed that the prisoner exchange deal reached between Hamas and the Israeli occupation through German and Egyptian mediation, stipulates the release of 1027 Palestinian captives in exchange for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.
In a televised speech on Tuesday evening Mishaal said: "The exchange deal will be in two stages; the first stage will see 450 captives released within a week, the second stage will see the release of 550 after two months of the first stage."
He also said that all 27 female captives will be released and the first stage will include 315 captives serving life sentences.
He added that his movement was keen on including captives who entered prison at various stages of the Palestinian struggle from various factions as well as captives from various areas; Jerusalem, 1948- occupied Palestine, the Golan and the diaspora, pointing out this was an expression of the unity of the Palestinian people everywhere.
Mishaal described the deal as a “national achievement,” adding “To my brothers in the PA and Palestinian factions inside and outside Palestine I say this achievement belongs to all of us. We are proud of it and prepare for further achievements. Let us join hands and plan for more achievements for our national project until we liberate out Palestine and establish our state."
He promised that his movement will spare no efforts to get the rest of the Palestinian captives released.
He praised the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian factions who participated in capturing the occupation soldier Gilad Shalit to exchange him for Palestinian captives.
Hamas confirms prisoner swap deal
Hamas says the Palestinian resistance movement has reached an agreement for a prisoner exchange with the Israeli regime.
According to a Hamas source who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, the deal would be implemented “within days,” AFP reported.
“A deal between Hamas and Israel has been reached with full Egyptian mediation on the implementation of a prisoner exchange within a week,” the source said.
The source added that Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal was expected to deliver “an important address,” which was expected to be related to the long-awaited deal.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss what his office described as “a serious proposal” for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was captured in June 2006 by Palestinian fighters after he infiltrated into the Gaza Strip. Hamas requested the release of 1,400 Palestinians held without charge in Israeli prisons in exchange for the Israeli soldier.
Several rounds of talks over a prisoner exchange deal have been unsuccessful despite the efforts of mediators including Egypt and Germany to help the sides agree a release accord.
Germany's previous efforts to finalize the deal fell through in 2010 when Israel refused to release dozens of the detainees on the Hamas list.
The agreement on Tuesday came as Israeli troops attacked Palestinian demonstrators who had gathered outside Ofer Prison and went on hunger strike in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Protesters expressed anger about the conditions under which Palestinians are held at Ofer Prison and other Israeli detention facilities.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, about 6,000 Palestinian detainees are currently held in Israeli prisons.
|
Hamas, Israel reach deal to exchange prisoners![]() Israel and Hamas agreed Tuesday to swap more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit, resolving one of the most emotive and intractable issues between them.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said Israel will release 1,027 prisoners in two stages. Within a week, 450 will be swapped for Shalit and the rest will be freed two months later. Twenty-seven women are among those on the release roster. "We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners," Mashaal said in a televised address from Damascus. |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking his cabinet to approve the lopsided swap and under constant public pressure to bring Shalit home, said the soldier would be reunited with his family "in the coming days."
Palestinians in Gaza greeted the agreement, brokered by Egypt and a German mediator, with celebratory gunfire. Hamas confirmed that it only remained to conclude technical arrangements for the exchange.
A high-ranking source in Hamas said the deal was conducted largely under Egyptian auspices, and that its final implementation will begin by the start of November.
The deal was overseen by the Egyptian intelligence minister two weeks ago. Israel and Hamas send delegates to Cairo and it was agreed that 450 prisoners would be freed in a first round.
There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are regarded as heroes in their struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.
The wife of Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic activist seen as a future Palestinian leader, told Reuters in the West Bank that she was eagerly awaiting word that he will be included in the prisoner swap.
In Gaza the families of men jailed for life by Israel waited to see if their names would be on the list.
According to Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees which participated in the raid to capture Shalit, the deal will include prisoners from Jerusalem and who hold Israeli citizenship.
"All the women and children, the sick and the elderly" are included too, he said.
Hamas, the PRC and the Army of Islam will clarify the details of the agreement on Wednesday, he said noting that in any case, "99 percent" of the factions' demands have been met.
It was not immediately clear how many of the prisoners were jailed for attacks that caused Israeli casualties. Under Israeli law, opponents of their release have at least 48 hours to appeal to courts to keep them behind bars.
In tandem with a public campaign waged by Shalit's parents for his freedom, relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks have lobbied Netanyahu not to give in to Hamas by releasing prisoners with blood on their hands.
Israeli television quoted Netanyahu as telling Shalit's parents that ever since he took office three years ago "I've been waiting for the chance to make this telephone call" to inform them of the deal.
Shalit's family, which has maintained a vigil in a protest tent near Netanyahu's Jerusalem home for months, had accused him of not doing enough to secure his release.
Announcing to his cabinet, and television cameras, that a deal had been signed earlier in the day, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.
"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.
"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."
Israel has carried out several lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, notably in 1985 when hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for several soldiers captured by a guerrilla group in Lebanon.
The ordeal of Shalit, a fresh-faced corporal, transfixed Israel after the tank gunner was captured by militants who tunneled their way out of Gaza and then forced him back over the border.
He was 19 at the time and had begun his mandatory three-year army service nearly a year previously.
Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him looking pale and thin.
He received no visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite many appeals.
Palestinians in Gaza greeted the agreement, brokered by Egypt and a German mediator, with celebratory gunfire. Hamas confirmed that it only remained to conclude technical arrangements for the exchange.
A high-ranking source in Hamas said the deal was conducted largely under Egyptian auspices, and that its final implementation will begin by the start of November.
The deal was overseen by the Egyptian intelligence minister two weeks ago. Israel and Hamas send delegates to Cairo and it was agreed that 450 prisoners would be freed in a first round.
There are at least 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. They are regarded as heroes in their struggle against Israeli occupation and quest for statehood.
The wife of Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic activist seen as a future Palestinian leader, told Reuters in the West Bank that she was eagerly awaiting word that he will be included in the prisoner swap.
In Gaza the families of men jailed for life by Israel waited to see if their names would be on the list.
According to Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees which participated in the raid to capture Shalit, the deal will include prisoners from Jerusalem and who hold Israeli citizenship.
"All the women and children, the sick and the elderly" are included too, he said.
Hamas, the PRC and the Army of Islam will clarify the details of the agreement on Wednesday, he said noting that in any case, "99 percent" of the factions' demands have been met.
It was not immediately clear how many of the prisoners were jailed for attacks that caused Israeli casualties. Under Israeli law, opponents of their release have at least 48 hours to appeal to courts to keep them behind bars.
In tandem with a public campaign waged by Shalit's parents for his freedom, relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks have lobbied Netanyahu not to give in to Hamas by releasing prisoners with blood on their hands.
Israeli television quoted Netanyahu as telling Shalit's parents that ever since he took office three years ago "I've been waiting for the chance to make this telephone call" to inform them of the deal.
Shalit's family, which has maintained a vigil in a protest tent near Netanyahu's Jerusalem home for months, had accused him of not doing enough to secure his release.
Announcing to his cabinet, and television cameras, that a deal had been signed earlier in the day, Netanyahu said he feared time was running out for Shalit amid political upheaval in the Arab world.
"I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement, or even achieved one at all, in the near future," he said.
"It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."
Israel has carried out several lopsided prisoner swaps in the past, notably in 1985 when hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for several soldiers captured by a guerrilla group in Lebanon.
The ordeal of Shalit, a fresh-faced corporal, transfixed Israel after the tank gunner was captured by militants who tunneled their way out of Gaza and then forced him back over the border.
He was 19 at the time and had begun his mandatory three-year army service nearly a year previously.
Shalit, who also holds French citizenship, was last seen in a videotape released by his captors in September 2009 showing him looking pale and thin.
He received no visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite many appeals.
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