ISRAEL: ARAB
SPRING FORCED US TO ACCEPT
HAMAS'S DEMANDS FOR FREEING SHALIT
Nael Barghouthi captured on 4 April 1978, Gilad Shalit captured 25
June 2006
October 10, 2011
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
October 10, 2011
DAMASCUS, (
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.
Israel deliberately stocks up prisoners that are no real threat simply for the purpose of having a hand to play on swaps such as the one for Gilad Shalit.
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