Who wins in the prisoner swap deal? Who cares? people are free to go to their families. Haruna.
Alessio Romenzi / AFP - Getty Images
A
picture taken on October 17, 2011 shows a mural depicting captured
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Jabalia refugee camp, in the northern
Gaza Strip, as Palestinians prepare for the first stage of an
unprecedented prisoner exchange deal under which Israel has agreed to
free 1,027 Palestinian detainees in return for the Israeli soldier who
was captured in 2006.
By Lawahez Jabari, NBC News Producer
JERUSALEM
– As Israelis and Palestinians prepare for Tuesday’s release of the
abducted soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas in exchange for hundreds of
prisoners, both sides are weighing the price of freedom.
Shalit's
freedom comes with the release by Israel of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Despite the five years of protracted negotiations, the euphoria of the
surprise announcement is now tempered by a public debate on both sides
about whether or not the deal should have been done at all.
On
Tuesday morning, Shalit will be taken by Hamas officials out of Gaza, to
the Sinai Peninsula to be handed over to Egyptian officials. They will
then transfer him to waiting Israeli authorities.
Simultaneously
Israeli will deliver by the busload 477 prisoners, many of whom have
been convicted of attacks or conspiring to commit attacks on Israelis.
The remaining 550 prisoners will be released within the next two months.
The released prisoners include some of those accused of attacks that
have seared the Israeli psyche, such as the suicide bombing at the
Sbarro Pizzeria in 2001, in which 16 Israelis were killed.
The
Hamas leadership is praising the deal as a victory. Khalid Mishal, the
organization’ political leader, declared from his headquarters in
Damascus that "this is a national achievement that we should be proud
of."
Gali Tibbon / AFP - Getty Images
Israelis
who lost relatives in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict march with white
flags during a protest against a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, as
they march towards Israel's Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Monday.
But
the conditions agreed to for the release were too restrictive, say
officials of the rival Fatah party. More than 200 of those released will
be deported to other countries, including Qatar and Turkey. Many of
those originally from the West Bank will not be allowed to return home,
but will instead be deported to Gaza.
And despite the staggering
number of prisoners being released, they do not include high-profile
leaders like Marwan Barghouti, a member of Fatah, and widely seen as a
future leader of the Palestinian Authority. Claims by Hamas that all of
the female prisoners would be released are now being disputed since it
has emerged that there are an additional six to eight women who are
unaccounted for and still in prison.
Similarly, Israeli families
of those killed in past attacks, not only see justice being thwarted by
the release of those behind the attacks, but also an increased threat to
Israel's own security. Israeli media are showing a split in public
acceptance of the deal, where there is an embrace of the return of a
soldier that had become a national obsession, combined with a fear of
the uncertainty that now more kidnappings or attacks could happen.
In
reality, both Israeli and Hamas negotiators may have been grasping for a
deal as the conditions for reaching it were in danger of being
overtaken by the changing landscape caused by the Arab Spring.
The
new Egyptian government, which has been the intermediary between the
sides, is now more influenced by public opinion, which is openly hostile
to Israel. Egyptian negotiators though were continuing to pressure
Hamas into reaching a deal with Israel. Hamas, which is based in Syria,
now is more wary than every of its sanctuary in Damascus as the unrest
destabilizes the Assad government. Hamas has denied reports that it’s
weighing alternative locations, such as Cairo.
Ammar Awad / Reuters
Palestinians,
neighbors of Palestinian prisoner Ibtisam Issawi, hang a banner at her
home in the Arab East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber on Monday
as they prepare for her release in a prisoner swap that is expected to
take place on Tuesday.
By holding onto Shalit in
order to extract the highest concessions from Israelis, Hamas hopes to
cement its standing as an effective authority for Palestinians. As a top
Hamas official, Mahmoud Zahar put it on Sunday night, Abbas "negotiated
with Israel for a million years and hasn't achieved a deal like this
one.”