Re: Prison swaps are dirty business

The prisoner swap issue is not as open-and-shut as once thought.

Erin Chesney

Silhouette Staff

Discussion arose surrounding the current prisoner swap that occurred in Israel in last week’s edition of the Sil [“Prison swaps are dirty business” – Oct. 20]. After being held captive for over five years, Israeli sergeant Gilad Shalit was released in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners.

While last week’s article only discussed the 477 prisoners released on the Nov. 18, an additional 550 will be released as part of the deal. This prisoner exchange is particularly significant as it is the first exchange in which a live Israeli soldier has been returned to Israel in 26 years. There are certain aspects of this situation that were not properly emphasized in last week’s article that we feel are necessary to discuss.

Firstly, it’s important to note that Gilad Shalit was a hostage. Unlike his Palestinian counterparts, he was never tried for any crimes – he was simply held as a bargaining chip. The International Committee of the Red Cross has stated that international humanitarian law entitled Shalit the right to have contact with his family, but in over five years, Hamas not only prevented any contact between Shalit and his family but also refused to allow any contact with the Red Cross itself.

Although many Israelis and Palestinians are hopeful that the prisoner swap will help to forward the Middle East peace process, the reactions of some of the released Palestinian prisoners show quite the opposite may be true. Wafa al Bass, an attempted suicide bomber who was one of the 27 women released on Oct. 19, is encouraging children in the Gaza strip to follow in her footsteps and to become a martyr. In an interview with Palestine Today, recently freed Khaled Gaidi stated how proud he was of the low cost at which he purchased the weapon he used to murder Israelis. Time Magazine reported that Yehiye Sinwar, a released prisoner and founder of Hamas’ military wing who was convicted for taking part in the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli, urged the Al Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing, “to kidnap more soldiers to exchange them for the freedom of our loved ones who are still behind bars.”

Such advocacy for violence is certainly not conducive to peace, and further comments made by Mahmoud Abbas regarding Hamas’s methods of negotiation “bearing fruit” in their ability to release these “freedom fighters” leave many skeptical as to whether Israel would enter into similar negotiations again.

Whenever there is a prisoner swap, there is always the question of whether the trade benefits both sides equally. Out of the 477 Palestinian prisoners that Israel released, 70 were serving one life sentence, 40 were serving two life sentences and 94 were serving three or more life sentences for various crimes. The majority were held for committing serious crimes, including the planning or executing of violent attacks on Israeli civilians. One legitimate concern is that releasing many of these prisoners further endangers the lives of civilians. Rather than questioning whether this swap is fair to the Palestinians for only receiving one “top brass” official, perhaps one should wonder whether it’s fair to release some prisoners at all, let alone 1027, considering the various reasons for their imprisonment.

Some people wonder why Israel has been so adamant about bringing one soldier home. Israelis citizens enter mandatory national service at age 18, and as a result, every family is inextricably linked to the country’s soldiers. Everybody knows someone in the army, be it a brother, son, girlfriend or best friend.

Shalit, at 19, was on duty at the time he was taken hostage, and to many Israelis he could just have easily been their own son. Although to the rest of the world, Shalit might seem to be just another soldier, to Israel he was a hero; he represented the courageous soldiers in every family. Despite the different views held on the prisoner swap, one thing is clear: it has united families once again on both sides of the border.

Written with assistance from Rachel Charney and Sarah Silverberg