Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to secure the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Shalit, who was abducted in a cross-border raid while serving in a tank unit near the Gaza Strip, has been in Hamas captivity for more than five years.
Since his abduction in June 2006, ongoing negotiations for his release have broken down on multiple occasions. The terms of the current deal, which will see the release of numerous high profile Palestinian prisoners, are said to be nearly identical to those refused by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past.
The Israeli government met for a special session on Tuesday evening and was set to vote on the deal, which was mediated by Egyptian and German government officials. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the eight senior cabinet ministers – comprising Israel’s top decision-making forum – approved the deal on Monday, rendering the government vote a formality.
According to media reports, several hundred of the prisoners will be released to Egypt, and the rest to the West Bank and Gaza. Popular Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced to five life terms for his involvement in attacks on Israelis during the second Intifada, was initially said to be among the list of prisoners included in the deal, but Channel 10 later reported he would not be released. Other high profile leaders to remain in prison, despite long-standing Hamas demands, include Hamas leader Abdallah Barghouti and PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Saadat.
In a televised announcement on Tuesday evening, exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said that a total of 1,000 male prisoners would be released, in addition to 27 women – reportedly all of the Palestinian women imprisoned in Israel. He said that the release would be carried out in two stages, the first of which would see 450 prisoners freed within a week, with the second carried out in two months. Israel’s Channel 10 reported that six Arab citizens of Israel would be among those released.
Israel recently toughened the conditions of the roughly 5,200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in what it presented as a bid to pressure Hamas to release Shalit. Hundreds of prisoners have launched a hunger strike in recent days in protest.
Aviva and Noam Shalit, parents of Gilad in June 2010 (photo: Itzik Edri)
The Israeli government met for a special session on Tuesday evening and was set to vote on the deal, which was mediated by Egyptian and German government officials. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the eight senior cabinet ministers – comprising Israel’s top decision-making forum – approved the deal on Monday, rendering the government vote a formality.
According to media reports, several hundred of the prisoners will be released to Egypt, and the rest to the West Bank and Gaza. Popular Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced to five life terms for his involvement in attacks on Israelis during the second Intifada, was initially said to be among the list of prisoners included in the deal, but Channel 10 later reported he would not be released. Other high profile leaders to remain in prison, despite long-standing Hamas demands, include Hamas leader Abdallah Barghouti and PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Saadat.
In a televised announcement on Tuesday evening, exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said that a total of 1,000 male prisoners would be released, in addition to 27 women – reportedly all of the Palestinian women imprisoned in Israel. He said that the release would be carried out in two stages, the first of which would see 450 prisoners freed within a week, with the second carried out in two months. Israel’s Channel 10 reported that six Arab citizens of Israel would be among those released.
Israel recently toughened the conditions of the roughly 5,200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in what it presented as a bid to pressure Hamas to release Shalit. Hundreds of prisoners have launched a hunger strike in recent days in protest.
Demonstration on Tuesday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoner hunger strike (photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)
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