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Israel and Hamas agree deal to free Gilad Shalit

Everything you need to know about the prisoner swap deal and how it was reached.

By Samira Shackle Published 12 October 2011 9:55

Hamas and Israeli officials have agreed a prisoner swap deal which will see the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years. In return, Israel will release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The background

Shalit, aged just 19, was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006 after Palestinian militants entered Israel and dragged him into Gaza. Since then, little has been known of his well-being. His father, Noam Shalit, has tirelessly campaigned for his son's release.

Those who have suffered the most from Shalit's capture are the people of Gaza. Israel has staged a series of deadly raids, including 2006's Operation Summer Rains, which left more than 400 Palestinians dead.

Crucially, his on-going capture has been a central justification for Israel's five-year blockade of Gaza. This has seen the import and export of basic food and medical supplies severely limited, and the movement of people restricted. Last year, David Cameron described Gaza as a "prison camp".

The deal

Shalit is expected to be home in the next 48 hours. In return, 1,000 Palestinian prisoners will be freed. This includes 15 high security inmates said to have had direct involvement in terror attacks, and 200 who will not be permitted to return to the West Bank. About half of those who do return will face restrictions on their movement. The deal also guarantees the release of six Israeli Arabs to their homes, and of 27 female inmates.

It has been reported that the deal will see the prisoners freed in a two-stage arrangement, the first involving the release of 450 for the soldier, and the remaining 550 afterwards.

How was agreement reached?

Previous attempts at negotiating a deal have fallen apart because of disagreements over which Palestinian prisoners are to be freed, and arrangements over exile. Each blamed the other for the breakdown of talks.

This time around, both sides appear to have shown flexibility to ensure a deal. Egypt played a key role, with negotiations opening on Thursday under the mediation of Egyptian security and intelligence officials. In a tweet, Netanyahu thanked "the Egyptian government and its security forces for their role in mediation and concluding the deal". Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas, also thanked Egypt, as well as Qatar, Turkey, Syria and Germany.

Details are yet to be confirmed, but it appears that German diplomats also played a significant role, with German mediator Gerard Conrad flying into Cairo last week.

Why now?

Renewed talks were first reported in mid-September, with Al-Hayat newspaper saying that the Hamas delegation was eager to reach a deal quickly.

The Israeli cabinet approved the deal last night after a late-night meeting, with 26 ministers voting in favour and three opposing it. Netanyahu is said to have warned that if the deal was not passed, it would be a serious setback that would delay Shalit's release by several more years.

It is not entirely clear why officials were willing to reach a compromise where they have failed before, but the deal has been met with celebration in both Israel and Palestine. Both Hamas and Israeli officials have used it to proclaim the unity of their people. It is not unreasonable to think that the deal was motivated by the need to boost morale amid the stalemate of the peace process.

What the commentators say

In Haaretz, Ari Shavit argues that although Israeli politicians may have had cynical motives, there is one reason to support the deal:

Israel's main asset in human and security terms is the sense of mutual responsibility that its citizens and soldiers feel toward one another.

Without this feeling, there is no meaning to our lives here. Without this feeling, we have neither army, security nor the ability to protect ourselves. Rightly or not, Shalit has become a symbol of mutual responsibility. And therefore his upcoming release will not only be the redemption of a captive and the saving of the life and the return home of a son. Shalit's release will be the realization of Israeli solidarity.

Over at Al Jazeera, Ali Abunimah criticises the Israeli government's use of Shalit as a propaganda tool:

Israeli officials have stated publicly that the denial of visits to Palestinian prisoners and other measures against the entire population are intended as a form of pressure, in other words, collective punishment - a grave crime under international law.

Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, for example, said early in June that Israel should not lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip until Hamas allows an ICRC visit to Shalit.

The tragedy of the Shalit case is not just that Israel is using it to divert attention from the collective punishment of Palestinians, but that Shalit could already have been home long ago if Israel's leaders had not reneged on the German-brokered deal.

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Tags: Palestine Israel

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34 comments

Mon, 2012-04-23 20:26 — FranklinBonner

Gilad Shalit was guarding the very lives of the civilian population of southern Israel in the face of attempts by Hamas operatives to extinct them through the use of rockets, missiles, mortars, roadside explosives, and light arm fire. Those who will be released from Israeli prisoners have mass murdered children, men, women and the elderly and the only reason these innocent were murdered, and thousands more maimed, is the fact that they were living peacefully in their country, the nation-state of the Jewish people. http://www.online-legal-info.com/

Wed, 2011-10-12 09:56 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

Gilad Shalit, abducted from sovereign Israeli territory and in more than five years of solitary confinement never permitted to have a single visit by an International Red Cross personnel, will be free, happily, in exchange of hundreds of convicted prisoners in Israel with the blood of hundreds of people on their hands.

Ethically, this is the comparison that must be made when one thinks about this exchange.

P.S. Hamas, in its announcement - televised, in Arabic - clearly stated that it will continue to try to abduct Israeli civilians and soldiers with the intention of freeing convicted mass murderers in prisons in Israel. This is the face of Hamas, part of the Hamas-PLO Union to whom some want to hand over a "state".

Wed, 2011-10-12 10:14 — swatantra nandanwar

So 1 Israeli is worth 1000 Palestianians?
Hamas have behaved disgracefully and have brought shame on all Palestinians.
They should have exchanged on a one for one basis, getting back their most important prisoner.
Maybe Hamas thought they were getting a bargain, instead they've brought shame on all their people.
When are they ever going to learn.

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:32 — LZ (not verified)

Ben talks rubbish and he knows it

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:31 — LZ (not verified)

Ben you talk rubbish. Typical really. Israel has one of the largest and well equipt armies in the world, funded by the country with the LARGEST military budget on the planet. Its like throwing stones at stealth bomber for gods sake. Palestine CANNOT compete in a military sense so why come here suggesting they can?? its absolutly insane it really is!! Israel has STOLEN land, killed people on a genocidal level and forced millions of them into the dessert. Yet it is ISRAEL that is complaining???? This is the height evil and you know it. No amount of Israels propaganda can change the truth. i have NEVER seen such inbred denial than that of Israel

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:34 — LZ (not verified)

NS wont let me post my actual response. ridiculous almost complacent

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:37 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"Hamas have behaved disgracefully and have brought shame on all Palestinians".

I invited the poster to share with us the differences between the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, on the one hand, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on the other.

While indeed there are differences, fundamentally, when it comes to their relationship to the nation-sate of the Jewish people, Israel, both are eager to ensure its demise. It is only a matter of how, and that which will come in its stead, as the members of the two perceive it.

It would be enlightening to read the Charters of both, deeply etched in the minds and hearts of the leaderships and followers of the PLO and Hamas.

P.S. It is not by co-incidence the Hamas has reached a Union with the Fatah, the PLO leading organization.

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:41 — LZ (not verified)

whats goin on?? Flashbuck and luddite can spew hatred all day long but my non- offensive, factually based comment is not allowed?????.....wow.
NS has fallen off badly

Wed, 2011-10-12 11:50 — Agoodword (not verified)

@Jehudah Ben-Israel, what a preposterous thing to say. Gilad Shalit, is a member of an occupying force, that has brutalised Palestinians for decades. The Israeli occupying force has killed more Palestinian civilians than Palestinians ever did.

Are you telling me you know the case of all the Palestinians being released. there are women and children amongst them. Palestinians are arrested in their land, in thier homes, under an apartheid legal system.

I guess you think that Black South Africans who were being arrested in droves, were wrong to resist the apartheid system that was oppressing them.

I guess you think it was a legitimate legal system that imprisoned Nelson Mandela because South Africa was a sovereign state. what rubbish.

you talk about sovereignty and law which are all meaningless during colonial rule. Under occupation there is no law above the law of resistence

Wed, 2011-10-12 12:14 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"Jehudah Ben-Israel, what a preposterous thing to say".

One can't argue with an emotional outburst that lacks any basis in reality, of course, since reasoning with emotions is simply not possible.

I would only emphasize that young Gilad was abducted while guarding the civilian population of southern Israel, doing so while stationed on sovereign Israeli soil.

Let us at least hope the poster doesn't consider the sovereign UN member state of Israel as "occupied" territory, or does he/she...??

Sat, 2011-10-15 21:19 — Coleridge (not verified)

I'd love to see the day when the islamists agree to release 1 Moslem terrorists for a 1000 Jews.

Mon, 2011-10-17 08:15 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"...free Palestine..." writes the poster.

In more than one way, such a country has been in existence for many decades. But to fully understand it, one must appreciate the legal-history of the evolving of the subject.

In the beginning of the 20th century the geographic region called "Palestine" consisted of present day Jordan-Israel-WestBank-Gaza. And, on this basis the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917, calling for "Palestine" to be the "national home for the Jewish people".

The Balfour Declaration was then incorporated into the San Remo Conference decisions, 1920, the first truly legal document.

But, Britain that controlled the region, instead, handed over 78% of "Palestine" to the Muslim-Arabs in which to establish an independent Muslim-Arab state there, that today is called Jordan.

The League of Nations, 1922, in its resolution of that year incorporated the San Remo Conference decisions viewing, legally, the rest, 22% of the geographic region called "Palestine", as "the national home for the Jewish people", or the nation-state of the Jewish people if you will, to use present day terminology.

The United Nations that replaced the League of Nations in 1945 adopted the League of Nations's resolutions, not to be changed, thus etching in the corpus called 'international law' the fact that the nation state of the Jewish people must include present day Israel-WestBank-Gaza (22% of "Palestine") while the rest, (78% of "Palestine") now called Jordan is legally the independent Muslim-Arab country that some seek.

Fri, 2011-10-14 18:16 — M.A (not verified)

@Julia - Typical Rhetoric from an Islam-aphoebe! "Crazy Jihadi's"??..Do you even know one of the names of the people being released from the Israeli dungeons? I'll tell you what lengths Israel will go to to get back 1 of its citizens..They will (1)ignore UN resolutions (2) bomb, (3) raid, (4) kill and (5) maim hundreds of Palestinian for one of its citizens..do have selective amnesia between 2006 and today..? Some of the people being released have been held without charge! I assume you're one of those who believe an Israeli life is worth more than a Palestinians? Think about this...who is occupying who??...who is oppressing who!?? What Islamic state are you talking about… There are Christians living in Palestine!!

Fri, 2011-10-14 18:30 — M.A (not verified)

@ Jehudah Ben-Israel - What’s the difference between an Israeli Soldier and a Hamas Soldier?..They are both protecting their lands through democratically elected parties. Why are you making this into a religious argument? Israel is a secular state! If you want to talk about the religious doctrine of claims by Jewish and Muslims to the land - then why is it that there are MANY Jews who believe that the state of Israel should not exist in the context of the "Land of The Jews"....www.nkusa.org. This is about Palestinians - which includes Muslims and Christians - trying to live a basic human life in their own homes, which includes right to free movement without a grenade or AK47 being pointed at them!
The issue is that Zionists do not want to "co-exit" with Palestinians...they want a land free of Arabs...Actions speak louder than words..!

Wed, 2011-10-12 14:22 — Julia Harris (not verified)

People in gaza get 9 times more aid per head that anyone else on the planet...its big business for them to keep up this narrative..!

"Over at Al Jazeera, Ali Abunimah criticises the Israeli government's use of Shalit as a propaganda tool".

There'll be saying next that it was a Zionist conspiracy that Israeli's hypnotized Hamas to abduct him so that Israel could collectively punish the rest of Gaza...

This is the Prison camp that Gazan's live in...Shame nobody gives a stuff about the Muslims in , Susdan, Somalia, Yemen and the rest who are truly starving, maybe they aint arab enough

http://wikileaksnews.net/the-al-mashtal-is-gazas-first-five-star-hotel-p...

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001127.html

Wed, 2011-10-12 14:46 — marcella (not verified)

Does anyone know if Marwan Barghouti is included in this deal? He is a unifying figure between Fatah and Hamas and would be an important player in brokering any peace deal with Israel.
My understanding last year the swap deal fell through arond Barghouti as the Israel's as always feared a united Palestinian movement.

Wed, 2011-10-12 14:50 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"...nobody gives a stuff about the Muslims in , Susdan, Somalia, Yemen..."

Indeed!!

The reason, few truly care about the "Palestinians". But a lot can't accept that this tiny people, the Jewish people, actually has re-established sovereignty in its homeland of Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) and has managed, despite all odds, to turn its national home to a thriving state and society.

Indeed, if the Muslim-Arabs of "Palestine" had been in conflict with any other people other than the Jewish people, no one would have been hearing about them and their conflict.

The question that "progressive" people worldwide need to ask themselves is, why...??

Wed, 2011-10-12 14:53 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"Barghouti"

No, this five life-term prison sentence, is not and should never be a part of any deal.

He is a mass murderer who should linger in prison for the rest of his life.

Sun, 2011-10-16 05:00 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"I'd love to see the day when the islamists agree to release 1 Moslem terrorists for a 1000 Jews".

Indeed!!

Would the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-Hamas Union ever be willing to release 1,000 Jews for the sake of a single abducted Muslim-Arabs...??

It boils down to values: who values life and who doesn't...!!

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:30 — maxinemf

In response to Jehudah, stating factual inaccuracies is what Israel has thrived and survived on for many years. I simply cannot allow your falsehoods to go unchallenged.
Fact One: What you omitted to mention in respect of the Balfour Declaration was that a Jewish state should be encouraged to develop provided it did not undermine the rights of the indigineuous Arab population.
Fact Two: Whichever way you want to dress it up, indigenous Arabs which numbered some 900,000 by the time the Jewish state was established, were living in what is now known as the state of Israel.
Fact Three: These indigenous Palestinians were not living in the West Bank or Gaza. They were living inside the borders of Israel. There are numerous historical documents which attest the existence of a settled Arab population living in side the borders of Israel for many thousands of years.
Fact Four: There is ample documentary evidence to show that the indigenous settled Arab population pre dated any subsequent Jewish settlement.
Fact Five: Using the old tired argument that Jordan is Palestine means that technically speaking Palestine proper should include both Israel and Jordan.
Fact Six: It is generally recognised by most historians that the Balfour Declaration was not a legal document and was in effect a statement of political intent by the governing UK political party.
Fact Seven: We have to set the establishment of the state of Jewish state in Mandate Palestine within the context of the colonial British Empire period. Fast forwarding into the twenty first century, it is inconceivable that it would be acceptable that an Arab population of close to a million should be driven out of a country to make way for an incoming Jewish settler community. I believe the term we could use now is: ethnic cleansing. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues to this day.
Fact Eight: The past and current Israeli government policy of building settlements on land which is deemed illegal by international law represents a continuation of the ethnic cleansing programme started by Theodore Herzl one of the architects of the Zionist Project.

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:50 — maxinemf

Let us not forget too that Galid Shalit is a member of the Israeli army who take pleasure in demeaning, and de-humanising Palestinians. You forgot too mention Marwan Barghouti who was held for five years in solitary confinment by the Israelis and was forced to live in a room with no windows and rats. Barghouti has yet to be released.

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:52 — maxinemf

And why should Hamas and Fatah not reach an accomodation since between them they represent the majority of the population. Let us not forget too that it was Israel who secretly funded the birth of Hamas in order to de stablise Fatah.

Wed, 2011-10-12 16:32 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

Perhaps all of us need to view matters in a larger context. The following will assist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1N1zhUm84w&fe...!

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:55 — maxinemf

In response to Julie Harris, you are spouting the same old Zionist claptrap that I heard on unversity campuses over twenty years ago. Thank God, at least in the UK people can see through the Zionist rubbish peddled and that the Israeli state is personal non grata in UK university campuses. (just as south Africa was in the 1980's)

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:57 — maxinemf

Why do Palestinians have to pay the price for European guilt over the holocaust!!!!!!

Wed, 2011-10-19 16:59 — maxinemf

In response to April comments from New York, all I can say is continue to live in your blinkered world of ignorance. But when Jews/ Zionists control the COngress and the Senate, is it any wonder that views like April's are commonplace in America.

Wed, 2011-10-12 17:26 — April in New York (not verified)

Gilead was "protecting his people" on an armed incursion into Palestinian land. Had he been a Palestinian on an armed incursion into Israel to protect his people, he would have been called "a terrorist invader" not only by Israel, The New York Times, and an America political establishement, paid for by AIPAC. According to Christians for Middle East Peace, 42% of Americans would have had Obama vote YES for a Palestinian State, the rest are ultra othodox Jews, and Evangelicals, who whose prophecies say when the israelites return to Israel the Day of Lord is at hand. Though only 13% of Americans believe Obama will be "raptured up",including me, since I don't believe in the rapture. Many who watch Fox News think he's muslim born in Kenya. Many to most young American Jews, as in an article in The New York Review of Books in an article titled "The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment", "were expected to check their liberalism at the door of Zionism, but did the opposite". Plus a large percentage of Americans don't know where the middle east is. My brother, who teaches at a university in Canada, said a response to who were the protagonists in the main middle east conflict, got this memorable response: "The Amish and the Hindoos"

Wed, 2011-10-12 18:56 — marcella (not verified)

@ Jehudah Ben
Barghouti trial was a show trial as he was labelled the orchestrater of the al aqsa intifada. He is the Palestinian Mandela and Israel fear his leadership qualities. He was consulted by Abbas over the recent UN bid and FataH Srategy. While in jail he was worked with Hamas prisoners for Palestinian unity.

He is a charismatic leader of substance and no more a terrorist than Menachem Begin, the Irgun and stern gang the original terrorists in the middle east.

Mon, 2011-10-17 17:52 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

P.S. The History of the Words "Palestine" and "Palestinians"

Is Jordan Palestine? Here are two Jordanian State Stamps. On the left, one from 1949 with a picture of King Abdullah of the kingdom of Jordan and bears the label of Palestine in English and Arabic. On the right, a 1964 stamp bearing the likeness of King Hussein and pictures Mandated Palestine as an undivided territory including both present day Israel and Jordan.

http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/meaning.html

Wed, 2011-10-12 21:08 — JY_UK (not verified)

Some videos from a big anti war demonstration against the Afghanistan war in London this weekend:

John Pilger - Civil disobedience is the only way now (very moving speech) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytC6oxf4SnI

Police confronted with the truth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qkn-SzpHdY

Tony Benn - War and Empire - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd-rjCzbHXA

The Great British Police State - Downing Street - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHi7C4e8Wms

Antiwar Rave - Trafalgar Square - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vri0BVWfDCI

Report and pictures:

http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/new-in-ceasefire/stop-war-protest-0910/

PEACE

@JY_UK

Thu, 2011-10-27 00:38 — Julia Harris (not verified)

watch this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKJvgu92Zo&feature=youtu.be

Sat, 2011-10-15 08:47 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

"What’s the difference between an Israeli Soldier and a Hamas Soldier?" -- The latter is a "soldier" in the war-of-attrition-through-terror that commenced against the Jewish community of Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) during the pogroms of Nabi Moussah ceremonies in Jerusalem, 1920 - 28 years before Israel was proclaimed!! - and is to cease only with the demise of Israel and the elimination of all traces of Jewish life in it. The latter is a participant of the people's Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that are there to defend Israel's sovereignty and the lives of its citizens.

"The issue is that Zionists do not want to "co-exit" with Palestinians...they want a land free of Arabs...Actions speak louder than words..!" -- Indeed, actions speak louder than words. Following is a short, although significant list of Zionist (Zionism being the non-violent national liberation movement of the Jewish people, of course) acceptance of peace offers and opportunities, yet all of which have been categorically rejected by the Muslim-Arabs:

1917, Balfour Declaration

1920, San Remo Conference decisions

1922, League of Nations decisions

1937, Peel Commission proposal

1947, UN General Assembly resolution

1948, Israel's offer

1967, Israel's offer

1978, Begin/Saadat proposal

2000, Barak/Clinton offer

2005, Sharon's gesture

2008, Olmert/Bush offer

2009 to present, Netanjahu's offer for direct peace talks

And, between the years 1948 to 1967 when the entire now disputed territories were "cleansed" of their former Jewish residents and under Muslim-Arab rule, no independent Palestinian state was set up there and Jerusalem was not proclaimed its capital city. But, three years before the Six-Day War, in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was set up. Which part of "Palestine" was the PLO to "liberate"...??

Wed, 2011-10-12 23:03 — Jehudah Ben-Israel (not verified)

Let us be clear once again: Gilad Shalit was abducted while on sovereign Israeli soil, while his unit's task was indeed to defend the civilian population of southern Israel.

Any attempt to weave a "narrative" which differ from the facts is clearly one driven by either ignorance or political expediency, but no by any drive for intellectual honesty.

Thu, 2011-10-13 00:54 — Julia Harris (not verified)

Lets just think about this deal...over 1000 crazy jihadi's being released for 1 guy...

What other country Loves its people that much that it would go to these lenghts to get back 1 of its citizens?

The country with Moral Clarity and Decency, not a backward facing Islamic State