Israel releases list of 477 Palestinians to be freed 2
“The Shalits’ struggle is legitimate, but if his release is contingent upon the freeing of prisoners, then the Shalit family should join us, the bereaved family,” Schijveschuurder said.
Schijveschuurder is among dozens of Israelis who plan to petition the High Court of Israel on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to stall the release of the Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli officials said that while they would review the petition, they have, in the past,longchamp outlet always allowed prisoner exchanges to proceed.
While some Israelis have questioned the logic of setting a precedent of exchanging upwards of 1,000 prisoners for one captured soldier, others have asked why Israel did not examine other options to free Shalit.
Former Israeli Military Intelligence Col. Ronen Cohen said that Israel failed in multiple attempts to free Shalit using “alternative means.”
Bringing Shalit back through a prisoner swap was a “resounding failure of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces.) There are no other words to describe it,” Cohen told the Israeli daily Haaretz.
Cohen revealed that the IDF had “partial intelligence” on Shalit’s situation that may have enabled a rescue operation.
In the weeks after Shalit was captured, however, Israel went to war with Southern Lebanon and IDF chief Dan Halutz was “distracted,” Cohen said.
For their part, Palestinians said holding prisoners from occupied lands inside Israel violated international law. They said Israeli military trials involved secret evidence and standards of proof that would be unacceptable in many Western countries. And they noted that of the 6,000 or so remaining Palestinian prisoners in Israel, hundreds were being held without being charged while others were held under administrative detention for crimes amounting to political activism.
Although the outlines of the current deal between Israel and Hamas have been on the table for two years, it was Hamas’ willingness to abandon a handful of top prisoners and accept exile for others that allowed the exchange to go forward.
At the same time, Israel yielded on the number permitted back to their homes in the West Bank rather than insisting on exile. And it agreed to let out some Israeli Arabs as part of the deal, something it had previously rejected for fear of increasing links between Hamas and Israeli Arabs.
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