Israel court gives green light to Shalit swap
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Palestinian women walk past a mural depicting captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip October 15, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Mohammed Salem
JERUSALEM |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A deal between Israel and Hamas to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was on course for Tuesday after Israel's highest court rejected petitions to block it.
Relatives of Israelis killed by some of the 477 Palestinians on the release roster urged the Supreme Court on Monday to intervene, but it ruled against them, saying the matter was a political decision outside its domain.
The first phase of the swap, to take place on Tuesday, should end a saga that has gripped Israelis over the five years of Shalit's captivity in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
But under Israeli law, those objecting to the planned release of the Palestinians, many of whom were convicted of deadly attacks, were allowed to appeal before the exchange.
Four petitions were filed with the Supreme Court by the Almagor Terror Victims Association and relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks.
"I understand the difficulty in accepting that the vile people who committed the heinous crimes against your loved ones will not pay the full price they deserve," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a letter, released by his office, to bereaved Israeli families.
Hamas prepared a heroes' welcome in Gaza for 295 of those due to be sent to the Israeli-blockaded territory. Palestinians regard those jailed by Israel as prisoners of war in a struggle for statehood. Israel has some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners.
An opinion poll in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth found that 79 percent of the public supported the deal with Hamas, an Islamist group that advocates Israel's destruction.
Shalit, now 25, was captured in 2006 by militants who tunneled into Israel from the Gaza Strip and surprised his tank crew, killing two of his comrades.
Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, tightened its blockade of the coastal territory after he was seized and taken there.
EMOTIONS HIGH
The repatriation of captured soldiers, alive or dead, has long been an emotionally charged issue for Israelis, many of whom have served in the military as conscripts. They also feel stung by the high price they feel Israel paid for Shalit.
Yossi Zur, whose son Asaf was among 17 people killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in the Israeli city of Haifa in 2003, asked the Supreme Court to prevent the release of the prisoners, three of whom were linked to the attack.
"From our experience with past deals, and sadly we have a lot of experience, we know how many Israelis will be killed as a result of the release of these terrorists. I am here to protect my children who are still alive," he told Channel 10 television.
In a rare step, the court allowed Shalit's parents to appear alongside lawyers arguing in favor of the deal for their son.
"Nobody knows what the impact of any delay, or any change, even the smallest, in the terms would be," they wrote in a letter to the court.
Israel's Prison Service has bused the Palestinians under heavy guard to two holding facilities ahead of their release.
On Tuesday, some of the Palestinians will be brought to Egypt's Sinai desert, where the exchange for Shalit will take place. Some of those prisoners will be taken to the Gaza Strip and 41 will be exiled abroad. Shalit will be flown to an air base in Israel to be reunited with his family.
A smaller group of prisoners will be taken from Israel to the occupied West Bank, to be welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival, and their families.
Hamas sources said the exiled prisoners will be received by Turkey, Qatar and Syria after being taken to Cairo, where the movement's leader, Khaled Meshaal, will greet them.
In the second stage, expected in about two months, the remaining 550 Palestinians will be freed, officials said.
Israel's deal with Hamas seemed unlikely to have an impact on international efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which collapsed 13 months ago in a dispute over settlement building in the West Bank.
Abbas has been pursuing a bid for U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the absence of negotiations with Israel.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Ari Rabinovitch; Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Louise Ireland)
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It should never ever be forgotten that Israel stands to loose billions in real estate either from its own definition of its territory or in trade for land. The settlers may become de facto Palestinian citizens although that option never seems to be mentioned.
Why would that be such an obnoxious solution? Because they can’t effectively guard themselves against a sea of hostility they are largely responsible for? And it is also due to the fact that religions cannot tolerate each other without compromising their own pretensions to a grasp of absolutes?
To put it very simply – if you didn’t like the neighborhood – don’t move there! The Israeli government is incompetent and not up to the task of imprisoning a nearly equal population with only military might and real estate speculators. They certainly had no other “winning ways”.
The core reason the settlements were built was to create indisputable facts on the ground. And even more cynically, the state used civilians to advance its desire for more territory. The plains and western states were acquired by the US through treaty and purchase. The same cannot be said of the West Bank. Israeli holds that territory as self awarded retributions for past warfare. It claims the right of spoils of war. That is an illegal act.
The “morality” of the swap pales before the rock bottom consideration of real estate. It’s the money honey.
A morality few understand and will argue about till they die of old age, isn’t nearly as important as the cash and they all know it.
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