Israel, Hamas announce surprise Shalit prisoner swap agreement
ISRAELI Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stunned his country on Tuesday with a surprise announcement that a tentative prisoner exchange deal had been reached with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit has been captive by Hamas in Gaza for over five years and deprived of any contact with the outside world, including Red Cross representatives.
“If all goes according to plan, Gilad will be returning to Israel in the coming days,” Netanyahu said in a televised address – underscoring that until Shalit enters Israel safely, the deal remains to be consummated.
According to the Jerusalem Post, 1027 Palestinian prisoners will be released in two stages as part of the deal. That number includes a large number of terrorists convicted of mass murder.
Shalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, expressed optimism that their struggle to free their son, which had launched a grassroots worldwide movement, was nearing a successful conclusion.
Aviva told Israeli press Tuesday night she was feeling she was experiencing “indescribable happiness,” she could not fully celebrate the release of her son until she could see him with her own eyes. Meanwhile Noam took the opportunity to humbly acknowledge the heavy price Israel had agreed to pay for his son’s freedom.
Israelis responded with jubilation at the unexpected news.
Outside the Shalit protest tent outside the prime minister’s residence, which had been a fixture in Jerusalem for 1934 days, youths sang “Am Yisrael Chai” while passing cars driving by honked in support.
Palestinians, too, took to the streets in West Bank and Gaza cities from Ramallah to Jabalya in northern Gaza to celebrate news that some of their lionised prisoners would be freed – even if some of them would reportedly not be allowed to return to their home towns as part of the deal.
The precise date that Shalit will be turned over to Israel has not been made public but reports quoting Hamas officials in Gaza said that Shalit may be home sometime in the next week.
The deal had been kept under complete secrecy since it reportedly was signed by the two sides last Thursday in Cairo following years of negotiations and Egyptian-brokered mediation.
Netanyahu presented the deal to his cabinet late Tuesday night. The prisoner exchange was approved by a vote of 26 for and three against. The three ministers opposing were Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau of the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party, and Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon of Likud.
While support for a prisoner swap has consistently polled high among Israelis, a significant number of Israelis, including the families of many terror victims, have been adamantly opposed to the exchange on moral grounds as well as security concerns.
Shalit, a tank crewman, was kidnapped on June 25, 2006 when his unit, which had been guarding the Israeli side of the Gazan border, came under attack by a Hamas terror cell.
comments