prisoners swap

Thousands gather before Red Cross office in Gaza

Swapping hundreds of terrorist prisoners for corporal Shalit sends clear message to Hamas which stated today, “kidnapping soldiers and exchanging them for prisoners is the best solution for releasing our heroes”.

Two factions appear not so rival. Moderate Fatah profits from Shalit’s kidnapping. Stalin famously rejected German offer to exchange his POW son for Friedrich Paulus, saying he won’t exchange lieutenant for a general.

In the wake of prisoners’ exchange, arresting two more was not feasible

Study by the Almagdor association shows that earlier released Arab prisoners killed 177 Jews in the last five years.

How so?

According to al-Itahad newspaper, Israel will release Hezbollah’s security prisoners, including convicted terrorists.
Why not round up a dozen of Hezbollah’s parliament members instead and exchange them for Israeli POWs Regev and Goldwasser?

Egyptian mediators will push the Palestinian government to swap Cpl. Gilad Shalit for a thousand of Arab terrorists.

With the recent poll indicating that Fatah will score 59% with Marwan Barghouti while 49% with Abu Mazen in early elections, Israel is hard pressed to release the convicted terrorist. Shimon Peres will press to pardon Barghouti and include him, among hundreds of other terrorists, in prisoners swap for a single Jew, Gilad Shalit.

Saleh Aruri left Israeli jail just months ago after serving 15-year sentence.
More than a thousand convicted terrorists await release in prisoners’ swap.

Facing the Palestinian refusal to accept a prisoners’ swap which doesn’t include high-value terrorists, Olmert announced unilateral pardon of 250 convicted Palestinian terrorists.
Olmert will ensure that the released terrorists won’t revert to attacking Israel, as most Arabs do upon release, by asking them to sign a statement promising good behavior. Is he brain-damaged like Sharon?

Mother of Pinhas Levy, murdered in Jordan Valley, appeals the Israeli government’s decision to transfer his murderers to Jordan.

Olmert’s government didn’t yet approve a unilateral release of 250 jailed Palestinian terrorists “without blood on their hands,” as Olmert promised to Egypt’s Mubarak, because it cannot find enough of them. Olmert intends to release Palestinians who are not murderers and served long jail time – an unlikely match.

Olmert announced the unilateral release of Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill toward Fatah. Fatah criticizes the list as containing the Arab prisoners whose sentences are soon to expire, anyway.
Dozens of Jewish political prisoners in Israeli jails won’t be released. They have no Fatah to lobby for them.

Israeli government opposes the petition by mother of one of the Jews killed by the Jordanian terrorists soon to be released from Israeli jail to Jordan. Terrorism, however, is not crime but an act of war, and no country extradites terrorists to their welcoming homeland.

Kadima and Labor voted to release 250 of would-be Arab terrorists held in Israeli jails. The terrorists “lack blood on their hands” – a condition of the release – mostly because Shin-Bet and the IDF cuaght them before they managed to kill Jews. Olmert asserted that prisoners’ release wouldn’t diminish the chances of rendering the kidnapped IDF’s soldiers. Shin-Bet’s Avi Dichter muttered that no prisoners’ release ever helped Israel. Traditionally, the released terrorists are welcomed back to Palestine as heroes and return to the ranks of acting terrorists.
Abbas decried the prisoners’ release as insufficient and unimportant. Hamas decried the release as Fatah’s collaboration with Israel.
Olmert rejected a list of prisoners prepared by Shin-Bet, IDF, and the Justice Ministry because Abbas complained that sentences of many on the list are soon to expire, anyway. Israeli government will approve a list of more dangerous terrorists to release, to be compiled shortly.
Shin-Bet works with Hamas and Hizbullah on the two prisoners swaps for Shalit and Regev/Goldwasser.

Israeli PM claims the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists will expedite the release of captured Israeli soldiers. Historically, Arabs never reciprocated Israeli gestures.

Hamas rejected the Israeli list of Arab prisoners to be released in exchange for Shalit because the list includes no members of Popular Resistance Committees which also participated in the kidnapping and are entitled to its fruits.
Prisoners’ exchange is a result of mass media hysteria about a single kidnapped soldier.

Olmert reschedules the meeting with Egyptian, Jordanian foreign ministers. Olmert, an acute politician, realizes the discussion is worthless, but conducts it for the world’s media and his American sponsors. Israeli government released 250 terrorost prisoners as a welcome for the Arab League delegation which did not arrive.

Israeli government confirmed Palestinian report about Israeli ceasing hunting 178 wanted Fatah terrorists to free their hands to fight Hamas. Since fighting Hamas is dangerous, Palestinian terrorists will actually continue murdering Jews to liberate Arab homeland.