Gilad Shalit deal hailed

12 Oct 2011, 9:12 am   -   Source: AP
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Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners.

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Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners, capping five years of painful negotiations that have repeatedly collapsed in fingerpointing and violence.

The deal, brokered by the new Egyptian government on Tuesday, would bring home Sergeant Gilad Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid in June 2006 by Palestinian militants who burrowed into Israel and dragged him into Gaza.

Little has been known about his fate since then.

Hamas and Israel are bitter enemies. Hamas has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, killing hundreds, and Israel blockaded Gaza after Hamas seized power there in 2007, carrying out a large-scale invasion in 2009 to try to stop daily rocket attacks on Israel.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened an urgent cabinet meeting on Tuesday night to approve the deal.

"Gilad will return to Israel in the coming days," Netanyahu declared in a nationally televised address before entering the meeting.

Effusively thanking Egyptian mediators, he said the deal was signed earlier in the day after being initialed last Thursday.

In Cairo, Egypt's state TV said Egypt succeeded in sealing the exchange. An Egyptian security described his government's role as the guarantor of the deal.

In the past few days, a group of Israeli officials were in Cairo, and Hamas officials arrived to Cairo on Monday.

In Damascus, Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, confirmed the deal, saying a total of 1027 Palestinian prisoners would be freed in two phases.

He said Israel would free 450 prisoners within a week, with the remainder released in two months.

"This is a national achievement for the whole Palestinian people. All are struggling, nationalists and we all have sacrificed," he told a news conference.

He said he was pained not to be able to release the thousands of remaining prisoners held by Israel.

Several Hamas officials said the leader of a Palestinian faction, Ahmed Saadat, and the most prominent prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, would be included in the deal.

Israel had previously baulked at Hamas' demands because many of the prisoners are serving lengthy sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis, and critics have warned that the militants could resume violence once they are freed.

In his televised addressed, Netanyahu acknowledged the pain of families who have lost loved ones to Palestinian violence.

"This is a tough decision. My heart is with the families of terror attacks," he said.

"I believe we got the best deal that we could get, considering the storms of the Middle East."

Shalit's plight has captured the attention of Israel, where military service is mandatory for Jewish citizens, and people identify with the Shalit family's ordeal.

Many cars carry bumper stickers with Shalit's name, and people often wear T-shirts with the soldier's picture.

Hamas has allowed no access to Shalit, and released only a brief audio recording and a videotaped statement early in his five years in captivity.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, travelling in South America, praised the deal.

"We have waited for this for a long time. We demand that all prisoners be released from the Israeli prisons, and we appreciate the Egyptian efforts," he said.

 

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