Many will remember the prisoner swap ten years ago, when Israel agreed to free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including many who had committed terrorist murders, in exchange for exactly one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Many of those 1,027 returned to their murdering ways, killing Israelis who would not have been killed had the swap never taken place. Some Israelis vowed that such a lopsided deal must never again be entered into, but according to news reports, that’s exactly what is about to happen.
A report on the soon-to-be-announced prisoner swap is here: “Israel, Hamas reach ‘understandings’ on prisoner swap – report,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, October 23, 2021:
Important and positive developments have unexpectedly occurred in secret negotiations between Israel and Hamas towards reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, Egyptian sources revealed on Friday.
The sources told the Rai al-Youm online newspaper that the Egyptians have “accomplished many points related to the prisoner swap deal, which may be announced within a few weeks.”
According to the sources, the Egyptians received “official and clear guarantees from Hamas and Israel that comply with the broad outlines of the deal.”
“There are understandings on many points, and Cairo has completed more than 70% of the deal, and the rest may be related to the details of time, place, guarantees and other logistical matters,” the sources said.
Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank, was quoted as saying that there are “significant surprises” that will be part of the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.
The enthusiasm of Hamas is palpable. But what are the “significant surprises” that he refers to? I would hazard a guess that one of those “surprises” will be the freeing of Marwan Barghouti, the most famous of the terrorists now imprisoned. Barghouti is serving five life terms for five murders. Now Israel may have decided to let him go. A big mistake.
The second “significant surprise” is, I suspect, the freeing of the six prisoners who in September escaped from the high-security Gilboa Prison; they were all recaptured within a week but during that week, they were lionized by Palestinian society for their breakout and still are; even the rusty spoon they used to dig their escape tunnel has become a symbol of the “resistance.” It would be quite an achievement for Hamas to obtain their release, as well as that of Barghouti, and quite a slap in the face of Mahmoud Abbas, whose failure to obtain the release of a single prisoner (Israel’s previous release of 1,027 prisoners was also made with Hamas), is testament to his impotence.
The discussions that are taking place are very secretive and in the hands of the [Hamas military wing Izzaddin] Al-Qassam Brigades, and important developments have taken place,” Yousef told Rai al-Youm.
The deal, he added, “will fulfill the aspirations of our prisoners in Israeli prisons.”
Aside from the freeing of Marwan Barghouti and the six Gilboa Prison escapees, I would assume that Hamas would not be so enthusiastic about the deal unless they have been guaranteed that Israel is willing to free roughly the same number of prisoners as were released in the prisoner swap for Gilad Shalit, that is, about a thousand.
Last week, Hamas said that the issue of the prisoners remains at the top of its priorities and it will not rest until they are all released from Israeli prisons.
“Liberating our detainees from the occupation’s prisons is a religious, national, and humanitarian duty,” Hamas said in a statement on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange agreement….
Hamas is holding the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed during the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is also holding two Israeli citizens, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered the Gaza Strip on their own in 2014 and 2015.
This is likely to be as lopsided and dangerous a deal as the one Israel agreed to in order to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit. After that deal was made, Hamas enjoyed a great increase in popularity among the Palestinians, a morale booster that led to more attacks by the terror group. By 2015, at least ten Israelis had been murdered, and more wounded, by terrorists who had been freed in the Shalit prisoner swap. In the six years since then, while totals have not been released, assuming that the same rate of terrorist murders by those freed in the 2011 swap has continued since 2015, then a dozen more Israelis are likely to have been killed, giving a total of 22 Israelis killed by prisoners whom Israel freed in order to obtain the release of one soldier. Was it worth it?
In the current deal, Israel will not be getting back a live soldier, but only two corpses, and two Israeli citizens, one of them an Israeli Arab, who are both mentally defective and wandered into Gaza at different times. Is It certain that in their permanent mental condition, they would even recognize, much less appreciate, the state of being free from their Palestinian captors? Sentimentalists would say, as they did during the run-up to the Gilad Shalit swap in 2011, that in order to get back even one Israeli being held prisoner, no number of released Palestinian prisoners is too high. But is that true? Among the 1,027 prisoners traded for Gilad Shalit, some returned to terror attacks and went on to murder nearly two dozen Israelis. Weren’t those murders predictable? What if they had killed 50 Israelis? One hundred? Is there a number that we can all agree on that would be too high a price to pay for the release of Gilad Shalit? How many murders will be committed by the prisoners who are soon to be released by Israel, in order to get back not a live soldier but two corpses, and two mental defectives?
Stan says
Exchanging a person found guilty of violent crimes for a person kidnapped is extortion. Hamas kidnaps an Israeli and then swaps him/her for convicted terrorists? I realize it is a difficult situation. Mossad, CIA find out the location of the kidnapped Israeli and kill his/her captors. Messy. Yes. But it 2ill change the operating dynamic for Hamas.
Oren says
I have never understood these deals, and now that I am more critical of the media and the Israeli government, I have no doubt that the majority of the people of Israel oppose these deals. Therefore, the only reason for them to exist, is to humiliate the Israeli government. Which is A good thing, since this government attacks the people of Israel, far to much. I think of it as A means to lower PM approval numbers. In G-d I trust.
ElderlyZionist says
Barghouti is a senior PLO terrorist cadre. It seems ominous that Hamas would exert themselves to free him, or that Israel would let him go.
Perhaps the Egyptians have persuaded their Israeli counterparts that Barghouti could prove a tractable successor/replacement for Abbas as President of the Palestinian Authority, and open the way to a final two-state peace settlement. I wonder how involved the Biden administration might be in the intrigue. I hope this doesn’t turn into another debacle.
gravenimage says
Besides everything else here, Barghouti has split from Fatah. I don’t think we’ll see him head of the Palestinian Authority any time soon.
gravenimage says
Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap Gets Closer
………..
I am glad that Gilad Shalit is safe.
But this is what Islam does–kidnaps good people to torture and murder, ransom for money, or ransome for Jihad terrorists.
Israel is between a rock and a hard place surrounded by these barbarians. If they deal, they face more murder from the released Jihadists. If they refuse, I can only imagine the savage torture and grisly murder their kidnap victims would face.
God, I hate Islam.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage says,
“Israel is between a rock and a hard place surrounded by these barbarians.”
Unfortunately, very true.
The only other option for similar types of situations would be a very risky commando type rescue operation such as what was used for Operation Thunderbolt at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976.
gravenimage says
True, James. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s rather like the dillemma of whether to buy slaves to grant them their freedom when you know that it may also embolden Muslims to kidnap and enslave more victims.
No good answers.
As for your last suggestion, it is great to do with when you can–but I imagine most of these victims are kept in different places and are moved often. This is what Gilad Shalit described.
James Lincoln says
Agree, gravenimage.
Often times, no good answers.