Slechte deal, maar Shalit komt vrij

 

Fresno Zionism is me wat te fel af en toe, maar hij heeft wel een punt met zijn kritiek op de deal. Het heeft de Palestijnse ‘verzetsbewegingen’ nooit aan motivatie ontbroken, maar het geeft ze zeker een boost als er in een keer zoveel gevangenen vrijkomen, en ook zoveel zware gevallen en ervaren terroristen.

 

RP

--------------

 

The wrong deal, but Shalit is coming home!

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/10/the-wrong-deal-but-shalit-is-coming-home/

October 12th, 2011

 

 

As everyone knows by now, Israel signed a deal with Hamas, and the Cabinet signed on, to trade 1000 prisoners in Israeli jails for Gilad Shalit.

All the details, particularly whether some of the worst terrorists are on the list, are not clear. There are conflicting reports about whether Marwan Barghouti (5 life sentences) or his cousin, Hamas bomb-maker Abdallah Barghouti (67 life sentences) are included. There are also reports (and denials) that Shalit is now in Cairo.

 

At this point, all that can be reported for certain is that there is a deal for 1000 prisoners. Many of them are murderers.

As the father of three children who served in the IDF, I know what it is to worry about a soldier. I cannot know what the Shalit family has suffered. I’m sure my nightmares, vivid as they were, did not compare to their reality. I understand this. I know that if my son were in their Gilad’s place I would do absolutely anything, no matter how irrational, to bring him home. I admit it, even if I thought it would bring down the state, I would do it. That’s the way parents are.

 

But the Prime Minister of the State of Israel can’t act irrationally. He has the responsibility to protect all Israelis. Like a military commander who sometimes gives orders that he knows will result in the death of some of his soldiers, he must make choices — even when there is no acceptable choice.

But the choice the PM and his government have made is the wrong one. The deal will:

 

1. Encourage more kidnappings.
2. Eliminate fear of imprisonment as a deterrent to terrorism.
3. Give Hamas a huge political victory (they are already claiming it).
4. Boost Hamas morale and recruitment.
5. Wreck the morale of our security people, who risked their lives to capture these terrorists.
6. Free vicious terrorists who will kill again.*

 

Some say there is a Jewish moral imperative to rescue captives. But like most moral problems, this is one of conflicting imperatives. The deal is a trade: one young man’s life today for the lives of future terror victims — and we may not have to wait long for that future.

 

Others argue that terror organizations are always trying to kidnap soldiers (and other Israelis) and this won’t change. But it’s reasonable to think that the striking success of this kidnapping — one of the major Palestinian goals enunciated by Mahmoud Abbas in his recent speech to the UN was to free prisoners — will result in more resources being devoted to this tactic.

 

A prospective terrorist can contemplate murder, even multiple murders, knowing that if he escapes from the scene of the crime, he can expect at most a few years imprisonment (under relatively good conditions), until the next ‘swap’. Then he will be a hero of the Palestinian people.

 

I spoke to a person who was a member of the security forces that stopped hundreds of potential terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada, intercepting terrorists on their way to their targets. He personally arrested some of those who may be freed, including one of those responsible for the Hebrew University bombing. He said “you work for years to accomplish something, and then it all disappears.”

 

Ahlam Tamimi, the woman who drove the Sbarro restaurant bomber to his target, is one who will be released (all women prisoners are included). She received 16 life sentences. She said “I’m not sorry for what I did. I will get out of prison and I refuse to recognize Israel’s existence.” Another female prisoner is Amna Muna, who lured an Israeli teenager to his death by computer chat. She isn’t sorry either.

 

Nevertheless, it is important that we keep our perspective about who is responsible for the enormous evil that has transpired here: the evils of past and future terrorism, and the evil done against Gilad Shalit, his family and all of Israel and the Jewish people. The Palestinian terror movements (not just Hamas) are responsible, and should be made to pay in the strongest possible way.

 

I’ve often called for a death penalty for terrorist murders. There is a downside: every execution will become an international crisis. But there may be no other way to deter it (not all terrorists are suicidal, after all, especially the ones who plan and order the attacks).

 

There has been criticism of the Shalit family for the pressure that led to this deal, even talk of demonstrating outside of their home when the inevitable consequences of it come to pass. The criticism is misdirected and the idea of demonstrating reprehensible. They have suffered far more than enough.

 

I have had a banner hanging above my front door for some time with a picture of Gilad Shalit, calling for his freedom. We also have placed his picture at our Passover seder table for several years. We will remove the banner with great happiness, along with trepidation.

 

Update [0945 PDT]: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Strategic Affairs Minister and former IDF chief Moshe Ya’alon, and National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau are the only cabinet members who voted against the deal. Pick the next Prime Minister from that list.

__________________________________________________
* I posted this list of reasons on an email list, and I see that some other bloggers have used it. That’s fine, but I want to make clear that I didn’t copy it from anyone.

 

 

Nabestaanden terreurslachtoffers stappen naar Hooggerechtshof

 

Dit was te verwachten. Als je zelf dierbaren hebt verloren zie je de daders niet graag op vrije voeten, zeker niet als ze ook nog eens duidelijk maken het weer te zullen doen.

 

According to Almagor, since 2004, 183 Israelis have been killed in terror attacks carried out by terrorists who were released from prison.

 

Nederland is te klein als een pedofiel op vrije voeten komt nadat hij zijn straf heeft uitgezeten, en vooral als hij dan terug in zijn oude wijk komt wonen. Veel Nederlanders vinden ook dat alle pedofielen opgeknoopt moeten worden aan de hoogste boom. Maar 280 Palestijnse moordenaars op vrije voeten, dat moet geen enkel probleem zijn? Ik kan me de woede dan ook goed voorstellen, al denk ik dat de deal om Shalit vrij te krijgen wel de wil van een (grote) meerderheid reflecteert. Men heeft er gewoon heel erg veel voor over om deze soldaat, de verloren zoon, terug te krijgen. De gedachte hem te laten zitten wegrotten onder de grond in Gaza, is te ondraaglijk. En dat zegt veel over Israel. Men kiest uiteindelijk voor het leven van een eigen ‘zoon’ en niet voor het gevangen houden van de vijand, al pleegt die graag nieuwe aanslagen.

 

RP

---------

 

Sbarro terror victims plan to petition High Court

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=241721

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK AND MELANIE LIDMAN 
10/14/2011 10:11 

Almagor Victims of Terror plan demonstration in support of petition; one of the terrorists to be released was involved in Sbarro bombing.

Victims of the Sbarro terror bombing attack are planning to meet in Jerusalem on Friday morning to organize a High Court petition against the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Almagor Victims of Terror organization told The Post that the Sbarro attack victims intend to gather at the corner of King George and Jaffa streets in the capital, close to where the August 2001 attack occurred, in order to sign a power of attorney for the petition.

The petition plans came after Hamas-affiliated TV channel al-Aksa reported that one ofthe women prisoners due to be released is Ahlam Tamimi, the first woman to join the Islamist movement and the person who drove the Hamas suicide bomber who carried out the Sbarro terror attack.

Earlier Friday morning, a man purportedly related to victims of the Sbarro bombing defaced the Yithak Rabin memorial in central Tel Aviv, spray-painting "price tag" and pouring white paint over the monument. 

Though he was released later on Friday under personal circumstances, the incident shows the mixed emotions that come with a deal hailed by most Israelis for finally bringing Gilad Schalit back to Israel.

On Tuesday, a teary eyed Lea Schijveschuurder, whose parents and three siblings died in the Sbarro attack, stood at the Schalit tent with a sign that read “The blood of my parents is screaming in their grave.” 

“Do they want them to kill more people?” a tearful Schijveschuurder asked the Post as she stood opposite the Schalit tent and fended off arguments from Schalit supporters. “For me, enough people have died.”

The head of the Almagor Terror Victims Association, Meir Indor, slammed the prisoner swap deal. “The Schalit family wins and the state loses,” he said. “It’s a victory for terror and Hamas." 

"We know from our experience that hundreds of people will pay with future terrorist attacks, and that they’ll organize more kidnappings,” Indor added.

According to Almagor, since 2004, 183 Israelis have been killed in terror attacks carried out by terrorists who were released from prison.

“How many will be killed for Schalit?” he asked, before heading into a marathon of meetings to prepare appeals to the High Court of Justice to halt the deal.

 

RELATED:
Terror victims divided over Schalit prisoner swap 

 

Geld voor Wiedergutmachung gebruikt voor 'anti-Israel educatie'

 

In July 2011, the Anne Frank School hosted Hajo Meyer, a Holocaust survivor and anti- Israel activist. In his presentation, Meyer referred to the “criminal State of Israel.” He also “wanted to express that many Jews today feel that no one else suffered like them during the Holocaust, which makes them blind for the suffering of the Palestinians under the occupation.”
Meyer, who lives in Holland, has argued that “the earliest cause for anti-Semitism is situated in Jewry.”

 

Zucht. Wat drijft zo’n man, om in Duitsland te gaan lopen verkondigen dat de Joden de Holocaust aan zichzelf hebben te danken? Hij heeft overigens niet lang geleden gezegd dat de Israelische entering van de Mavi Marmara erger is dan wat de nazi’s deden. Je vraagt je af of hij nog wel helemaal bij zinnen is. Hij is per slot van rekening ook niet meer de jongste.

 

She added that “The German government not only has failed to compensate Holocaust victims – but by its onesided and obsessive focus on alleged Israeli ‘sins,’ it seems that the money has been used to minimize the Jewish experience, while at the same time heightening the inflammatory rhetoric and tension surrounding the conflict.”

 

Dat is denk ik niet helemaal waar. Duitsland heeft bij mijn weten royaal gecompenseerd (voor zover je zulke misdaden kunt compenseren natuurlijk) en in geen land staan er meer Denkmale en dergelijke ‘opdat wij niet vergeten’. Er is echt veel aandacht voor, en terecht. Dat er nu een programma is ontdekt dat niet deugt is triest en pijnlijk en moet zo snel mogelijk worden recht gezet. Uit het artikel wordt overigens niet duidelijk wat de EVZ verder allemaal doet. Er worden ook geen andere voorbeelden gegeven van anti-Israel retoriek en activiteiten in Duitsland.

 

Katja Wegner, a spokeswoman for the EVZ, told the Post, that EVZ doled out 17,100 euros for the program, which the Anne Frank school took part in. In a statement issued to the Post, EVZ defended the Anne Frank school exchange program, saying it contributes to a “different perception of Jews through Palestinians” and combats “anti- Semitism and hostility toward Israel.”

Dat klinkt nogal tegenstrijdig. Het ‘andere beeld’ dat Palestijnen van Joden hebben, is niet bepaald fraai, en waarom zou je dat in Duitsland zo naar voren moeten brengen? Ik zou het logischer vinden dat men juist kritisch kijkt naar het beeld van de Joden in het Midden-Oosten, en leert zien hoe dicht bij elkaar antizionisme en antisemitisme soms liggen. Het beeld dat Palestijnen van Joden hebben draagt naar mijn idee niet echt bij aan het tegengaan van antisemitisme.

 

RP

----------

 

German program uses Shoah funds to play down Holocaust

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=241686

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 
10/14/2011 04:25 

School program is vehemently anti-Israel, NGO Monitor says; main focus was devoted to alleging Israeli violations and immorality.

BERLIN – The German Holocaust Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility, Future (EVZ)” has used public monies to finance a second anti-Israel high school program that includes elements of Holocaust denial, according to a new report issued on Friday by the Jerusalem-based watchdog organization NGO Monitor.

The new revelations add to the bombshell disclosure in late September that EVZ provided 21,590 euros to a dubious 2010-11 student exchange program between an east German high school (Gerhart Hauptmann) and an Israeli- Arab school in Nazareth (Masar Institute for Education) to produce brochures delegitimizing Israel’s existence. The brochure compared Israel to the former communist East German state and depicted Jewish pupils in distorted and biased terms.

The Jerusalem-based watchdog organization NGO Monitor issued to The Jerusalem Post in early October an eye-popping report about a second EVZ-funded school program in which Holocaust funds were ostensibly misappropriated to finance playing down the severity of the Holocaust and promoting hatred of Israel.

According to the report, between March-July 2011, EVZ contributed funds to a partner agency for a program titled “Human Rights – Rights of Occupation,” with the German (Anne Frank School in Gütersloh) and Palestinian (School of Hope in Ramallah) students.

The NGO Monitor document notes that “while Palestinian participants questioned “whether the Holocaust had really happened to that extent,” the main focus was devoted to alleging Israeli violations and immorality, not on Holocaust education.

In July 2011, the Anne Frank School hosted Hajo Meyer, a Holocaust survivor and anti- Israel activist. In his presentation, Meyer referred to the “criminal State of Israel.” He also “wanted to express that many Jews today feel that no one else suffered like them during the Holocaust, which makes them blind for the suffering of the Palestinians under the occupation.”

Meyer, who lives in Holland, has argued that “the earliest cause for anti-Semitism is situated in Jewry.”

The prominent German-Jewish journalist, Henryk M. Broder, has slammed Meyer as an “expert on applied Judeophobia” who traffics in the “brown filth”of the Nazi era.

The head of NGO Monitor, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, told the Post that “the latest revelations about the Remembrance Responsibility Future Foundation are morally shocking and unacceptable. Instead of teaching young Palestinians who are taught to question whether the Holocaust ever happened, the Foundation has created programs that exploit this tragedy as part of the demonization of Israel. The role of Hajo Meyer, an elderly Holocaust survivor, in this effort adds to the moral abuse.”

Steinberg continued: “To say that this contributes to delegitimization of Israel and modern anti-Semitism understates the case. Instead of using the funding to educate about and compensate victims of the Holocaust, the EVZ sponsors programs for German students that reflect the political war against Israel, and greatly distort the Arab-Israeli conflict. German foundations and their officials have a particular obligation to be sensitive to such unacceptable activities.”

According to the website of the German school – named after German-Jewish teenager Anne Frank who was murdered in Bergen-Belsen – from her name a program has been established as a “point of reference for value assessments.”

Post phone and e-mail queries seeking a comment from Gunnar Weykam, a teacher at the school who runs the exchange program, were not answered as to why the school participates in anti- Israel activities and permits the Holocaust to be downplayed. Weykam coordinates the school’s “Palestine Project.”

Anne Herzberg, NGO Monitor’s legal advisor, told the Post: “This program needs much more than changes and evaluation. EVZ must shut down immediately, and only begin again once the entire program, committee members, and staff has been entirely revamped.”

She added that “The German government not only has failed to compensate Holocaust victims – but by its onesided and obsessive focus on alleged Israeli ‘sins,’ it seems that the money has been used to minimize the Jewish experience, while at the same time heightening the inflammatory rhetoric and tension surrounding the conflict.”

Katja Wegner, a spokeswoman for the EVZ, told the Post, that EVZ doled out 17,100 euros for the program, which the Anne Frank school took part in. In a statement issued to the Post, EVZ defended the Anne Frank school exchange program, saying it contributes to a “different perception of Jews through Palestinians” and combats “anti- Semitism and hostility toward Israel.”

Jewish NGOs and academic experts on anti-Semitism in Germany accuse the EVZ with stoking hatred of the Jewish state and ignoring modern expressions of anti-Semitism in Germany.

The EVZ was founded in 2000 with a contribution of 5.2 billion euros by the Federal German government and German industry to compensate former slave and forced laborers during the Nazi period.

NGO Monitor cited in its report on the pro-Palestinian activities of the Anne Frank school that “as part of this program, the German students concentrated ‘on article 17 of the UN Human Rights Charter of 1948, in which the right to ‘own property by yourself as well as together with others’ was established. The German students have discovered and documented through conversations with victims, lawyers, human-rights workers and peace activists, whether, that and how the State of Israel violates this right.”

According to NGO Monitor: “During an August 2011 meeting with the mayor of Gütersloh, the students ‘discussed the question what our responsibility for the German past means and if it doesn’t implicate that we need to criticize all human rights violations, no matter who commits them.”

The German students met with Farida Amad in April 2011, during a visit to the “women’s society Inash-Il- Osra” in Al-Bireh. Amad said “Maybe we can’t liberate Palestine in 50, 80 or 100 years, but I’m 100 percent convinced that there will be a time when we get it back,” noted the NGO Monitor report.

Multiple e-mails and phone queries to Volker Beck, a Green Party deputy who sits on the EVZ Board of Trustees and frequently issues statements about countering anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel, were not returned in connection with financial mismanagement at EVZ.

 

Akkoord over Shalit gevangenenruil Israel en Hamas

 

Zie ook: Vrijlating Gilad Shalit in de Nederlandse media

 

 

 

Akkoord over Shalit gevangenenruil Israel en Hamas

IMO Blog, 2011

Afgelopen nacht stemde het Israelische kabinet in met het akkoord tussen Israel en Hamas (via Egyptische en andere bemiddelaars - Israel onderhandelt niet rechtstreeks met Hamas) over de vrijlating van Gilad Shalit in ruil voor ruim 1.000 Palestijnse gevangenen. Komende week zullen daarvan de eerste 450 vrijkomen, waaronder 280 met een levenslange gevangenisstraf (lees: verantwoordelijk voor dode Israeli's). Een lijst van 1.027 vrij te laten Palestijnen zou komende zondag gepubliceerd worden (wettelijk vereist vanwege de mogelijkheid voor burgers om bezwaar te maken), en komende dinsdag zou Shalit worden vrijgelaten, die volgens berichten gisteren al naar Egypte zou zijn gebracht.


Blogger Elder of Ziyon verdedigt deze deal hieronder. Ik ben het niet met Elder eens, hoewel het natuurlijk klopt dat de terroristische groeperingen nu ook mensen genoeg hebben om aanslagen te plannen en andere vervelende dingen te doen. Het hoofd van de Shin Beth heeft gezegd dat ze de situatie kunnen hanteren. Het klopt dat er genoeg Palestijnen zijn die sympathiseren met het 'gewapende verzet' en hand- en spandiensten kunnen verrichten, maar een deel van de gevangenen die nu worden vrijgelaten waren juist ook bij het denkwerk erachter betrokken. Ze regelden zaken, hadden connecties, ervaring, know-how. Deze mensen zijn niet zomaar te vervangen en daarom versterkt het Hamas wel degelijk als een aantal van hen nu terugkeren en de gelederen weer komen versterken.

Maar misschien nog wel belangrijker is de psychologische overwinning van Hamas, en de motivatie die het mensen geeft om aanslagen te plegen. Je weet dat Hamas ervoor zorgt dat je binnen een redelijke tijd weer vrij komt en je vervolgens als held wordt onthaald. Hamas heeft al aangekondigd meer mensen te kidnappen om zo alle gevangenen vrij te krijgen. De deal zal Hamas ook versterken tegenover Fatah, en daarom zal de druk op Israel toenemen om nu extra toegeeflijk te zijn naar Abbas. Israel moet immers laten zien dat onderhandelen meer oplevert dan vechten (hoewel Abbas nauwelijks heeft onderhandeld, en steeds maar weer voorwaarden blijft stellen).

Ik begrijp de vreugde dat men Shalit binnenkort terug heeft, en het is erg prettig als Hamas nu even niks in handen heeft tegen Israel, maar ik vraag mij serieus af hoelang de volgende ontvoering duurt. Bovendien zal men nu extra bang zijn voor ontvoeringen, en Hamas is extra gemotiveerd. Elder schrijft:

It proves that one side values human life and the other despises it. We all know this, of course, but it is important to remind the world that there is a right and a wrong, a side that is moral and one whose entire existence is based on immorality.

Dat is me net iets te makkelijk. Het klopt dat er een groot verschil is, immers de hele martelaren cultus van de Palestijnen is gebaseerd op het gegeven dat de dood niet zo erg is en je je graag offert voor het grotere goed en Allah. Daarin gaan de Palestijnen vrij ver, gezien het feit dat Hamas burgers als menselijk schild gebruikt en aanslagen pleegt wetende dat er een Israelische reactie komt. Maar iets daarvan zit in veel culturen, het is een cultus van heroïek en sterven voor je zaak, en de geschiedenis van Massada is daar bijvoorbeeld ook op gebaseerd. Als Elder met 'a side whose entire existence is based on immorality' groeperingen als Hamas bedoelt, dan kan ik me er wel wat bij voorstellen, hoewel ik het een erg boude uitspraak blijf vinden, maar je kunt dit zeker niet voor de Palestijnen in het algemeen zeggen. Goed en slecht loopt door de kampen heen, door individuen heen en door conflicten heen. Bovendien vind ik dat de grootste fouten bij het Palestijnse leiderschap liggen en niet bij individuele burgers die door de dagelijkse propaganda murw gemaakt niet meer beter weten.

Overigens zal de wereld een en ander waarschijnlijk anders interpreteren. Men zal niet denken 'goh, wat sympathiek dat Israel voor een soldaat zoveel terroristen vrijlaat', maar 'als Israel nu zomaar zoveel terroristen vrijlaat, zijn ze blijkbaar toch niet zo gevaarlijk als men altijd beweert'. En: 'Israel hecht zoveel waarde aan een Joods leven, kijk eens in hoe een schril contrast dat staat met hun onverschilligheid voor Palestijns leven'. Dat laatste is niet helemaal terecht, want in vergelijking met andere asymmetrische oorlogen (zoals ook die tegen de Taliban in Afghanistan) doet Israel het behoorlijk goed wat betreft het vermijden van onschuldige slachtoffers, maar er is natuurlijk een verschil. Israel behandelt Palestijnse kinderen in ziekenhuizen, en zelfs gewonde terroristen worden door Israelische dokters behandeld en genezen. Maar er zijn ook voorbeelden van soldaten die wel erg makkelijk leken te schieten terwijl er geen levensbedreiging was, zoals bij de Gazaanse arts die drie dochters verloor. Dat Israel het leven van Joden hoog aanslaat en er bereid is ver voor te gaan, dat zal (helaas) de sympathie voor Israel niet echt vergroten, en vindt men op zijn best vanzelfsprekend.

Ratna Pelle

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Is the Shalit deal worth it?
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/10/is-shalit-deal-worth-it.html

I'm seeing a number of people in the comments, on Twitter and on groups I follow who are against the Shalit deal if it means that hundreds of murderers are freed in exchange.

The argument has two components.

One is that they are likely to kill Israelis in the future - as we have seen happen in the past, many times. And families of victims of the murderers are understandably upset at the thought that the monster will go free.

The other argument is that these one-sided swaps encourage terror groups to kidnap more people to facilitate more swaps.

I am sympathetic to these arguments. I've even made these arguments. And from a utilitarian perspective, they make a great deal of sense - one person's life is not worth the lives of many possible future victims.

However, there is a flaw in this logic, one that to me can tip the scales towards supporting the swap.

The fact is that the terror groups are already filled with people who would kill Israelis at every opportunity. The fact is that these groups already have a strategy of kidnapping any Israelis they can. With a few exceptions, most of the prisoners are not the brains behind successful terror attacks - they were just facilitators, people who are interchangeable with hundreds and thousands of other members of Hamas and Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

The reason that there have been relatively few terror attacks over the past few years isn't because of a lack of trying - it is because Israel is better at defending herself. The number of potential terrorists has remained steady at best, and the ones being released would not change that appreciably.

Yes, statistically there is a good chance that there will be future attacks involving some of the terrorists in this swap. But chances are the attacks would occur anyway with different people. Brainless terror drones are a dime a dozen in the territories.

The organizers who actually dream up new ways of killing should not be released. But most of the terrorists in the swap, from what I can tell, do not fit that description.

On the other side, a swap shows how much value Israel attaches to its people, and how unified Israelis are in grieving over tragedy and celebrating good news. It proves that one side values human life and the other despises it. We all know this, of course, but it is important to remind the world that there is a right and a wrong, a side that is moral and one whose entire existence is based on immorality. Additionally, the release of Shalit means that there is no longer anything that Hamas can hold over the heads of Israelis.

(None of this calculus applies if Shalit is, God forbid, not alive.)

I hope that this deal is finalized and that we can all celebrate the release of a healthy Gilad Shalit very soon.

 

 

Namen van vrij te laten Palestijnse gevangenen lekken uit

 

Het is goed nieuws dat Barghout, Saadat en enkele andere top terroristen er niet bijzitten, maar dit liegt er ook niet om. Neem bijvoorbeeld: 

·        Husam Badran, the former head of Hamas' military wing in the West Bank, who orchestrated the deadly terror attacks at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium in 2001, at the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002 and at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001.

 

Dit waren alle drie vreselijke aanslagen waarbij de eerste twee tientallen onschuldige burgers, deels kinderen, werden gedood. Volgens Anja Meulenbelt en co zijn dit echter krijgsgevangenen die net zoveel recht hebben op vrijheid als Shalit. Het moreel gelijk stellen van bloedige aanslagen gericht op het doden en levenslang verminken van zoveel mogelijk onschuldige burgers met het bewaken van de grens zoals Shalit en zijn eenheid deden, is behoorlijk ziek. 

 

RP

--------- 

 

Names of prisoners in Shalit deal trickle through Arab media

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4134795,00.html

Hamas-affiliated websites, Arab media post partial lists of Palestinian prisoners included in prisoner exchange deal. List includes terrorists involved it attacks which claimed dozens of Israeli lives

Elior Levy

Latest Update:  10.13.11, 22:45 / Israel News

Several Hamas-affiliated websites and Arab media outlets began publishing the list of Palestinian prisoners slated to be released as part of the first stage of the Shalit prisoner swap on Thursday. The full list is to be released on Sunday.

 

The Palestinian Maan news agency quoted a senior Palestinian official as confirming that the first stage of the deal, in which 450 prisoners would be released, is likely to take place within "10 to 14 days," while the second stage, when an additional 550 security prisoners would be released, is set to take place in two months.

  

The official added that "Israel will choose which prisoners to release in the second phase." 

 

The list, published on the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa TV website, includes several top Hamas leaders, such as Yehya al-Sinwar, as well as the eldest Palestinian prisoner, Sami Younis (78).

 

The list also includes the following prisoners:

• Abdel Hadi Ghanem, an Islamic Jihad terrorist responsible for the 1989 terror attack on Egged bus 405, in which 16 Israelis were killed.
  
• Fahad Schludi, a terror operative who took part in the 1993 abduction and murder of IDF soldier Yaron Chen.

• Bassam Abu Sneina and Riyad Asila, who are serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of yeshiva student Haim Kerman.
  
• Nael al-Barghouthi, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1978, for murdering an Israeli security officer.
  
• Yehiya As-Sinwar, who was one of the founders of Hamas' security forces in Gaza and was involved in the abduction and murder of IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman. He is also the brother of one of the terrorists involved in Gilad Shalit's kidnapping. 
  
• Jihad Yarmur, who was convicted of Nachshon Wachsman's murder.
  
• Ahmed Najar, former head of the Silwad terror cell, which killed three Israelis in six shooting attacks during the al-Aqsa Intifada.
  
• Mohammed Hamada, who was convicted of planning a rocket attack on Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.

·      Ruhi Musteha, a senior operative with Hamas' military wing. 

·     Husam Badran, the former head of Hamas' military wing in the West Bank, who orchestrated the deadly terror attacks at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium in 2001, at the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002 and at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001.

·      Muhammad Duglas, who was implicated in the Sbarro attack, and is serving 15 consecutive life sentences for the murder of 19 Israelis.

 

 

The list also includes the names of the six Israeli-Arabs slated to be release: Ali Amira, Muhammad Jabarin, Muhammad Ziada, Wahem Amisha, and Mukhales Braal.

 

·  For the partial list in Arabic click here

 

Earlier, Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi for Cairo's part his securing the prisoner swap.

 

Netanyahu praised Tantawi for Egypt's intense efforts in the case, saying: "Your assistance warms the hearts of all Israeli citizens."

 

Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal reportedly arrived in Cairo on Thursday, for a meeting with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Murad Muwafi.

 

Egypt's State-run news agency reported that Mashaal, accompanied by a Hamas delegation, discussed the best way to implement the deal. "We thank Egypt for brokering these difficult talks," Mashaal told MENA.

 

Also on Thursday, the International Red Cross offered to play a neutral intermediary role in the prisoner exchange.

 

"We are talking to both sides about our offer. We have offered our services as a neutral intermediary to both sides," Red Cross Spokesman Marcal Izard said.

 

 

Shin Bet: Israel heeft best mogelijke veiligheidsvoorwaarden bedongen voor ruil Shalit

 

 

Zie ook op IMO: Akkoord over Shalit gevangenenruil Israel en Hamas

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Shin Bet chief: Israel got best security terms possible in Shalit swap deal

Release of Gilad Shalit expected to take place in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners, including murderers of three kidnapped IDF soldiers.

By Amos Harel and Anshel Pfeffer 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/shin-bet-chief-israel-got-best-security-terms-possible-in-shalit-swap-deal-1.389551 

Shin Bet security service director Yoram Cohen said Wednesday that the prisoner swap agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, with Egyptian mediation, to free Gilad Shalit included the best terms possible for Israel with regards to security.

Do you think the swap deal is fair? Head over to Haaretz.com on Facebook and share your views

"If there was a better alternative, operationally or via negotiations, perhaps we would have chosen it," Cohen said during a press briefing. "But I think we got the best deal in terms of security parameters. This was a difficult deal in terms of diplomacy, security and morals, but to bring our soldier home in the relevant time frame, negotiations were needed, and the other side lowered its demands significantly on all aspects."

Palestinian security prisoners to be released as part of the Gilad Shalit deal between Israel and Hamas include the murderers of kidnapped IDF soldiers Nachshon Wachsman, Ilan Sasportas and Ilan Saadon.

Other prisoners being released include the perpetrator of the Bus 405 Tel Aviv-Jerusalem attack in 1989, the terrorist who killed 10 Israelis in Wadi Harmiyeh north of Ramallah in 2002, the terrorist who brought the suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001, and several perpetrators of the lynch in Ramallah in October 2000.

Among these prisoners, those from the West Bank will not be able to return to their homes and will be deported to the Gaza Strip or abroad.

Under the agreement, the release of Gilad Shalit is expected to take place in about a week, along with the release of 479 Palestinian security prisoners.

Of the released prisoners, 96 are West Bank residents who will be allowed to return to their homes. Fourteen East Jerusalem residents and six Israeli Arabs will also be allowed to return to their homes.

The released prisoners also include 131 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Twenty-seven women, all the women imprisoned in Israel for security offenses, will be released. Two will be deported, one to Gaza and one to Jordan.

About half of the released prisoners, 203, will not be allowed to return to their homes. 40 will be deported abroad and the rest transferred to the Gaza Strip.

Of the deportees, 165 will be allowed to return to the West Bank in 10-25 years. The other deportees will never be allowed to return to the West Bank.

In two months, Israel will release another 550 prisoners that it chooses.

Of the 479 prisoners being released in the first stage, 279 were serving life sentences.

Cohen said that in the five years since Shalit was captured there was an unbridgeable gap between Hamas' demands and what Israel was willing to agree to. The situation began to change three months ago when it became clear that Hamas was ready to be flexible on which prisoners be released and on the demand that they be allowed to return to the West Bank.

The German mediator was not involved in the talks in recent months. Rather, Egyptian intelligence services managed the process. 

In exchange for Hamas' willingness to agree to a large number of deportees, as well as the fact that symbolic Hamas figures would not return to the West Bank, Israel agreed to release more East Jerusalem residents and Israeli Arabs, as well as 25 terrorists from a list that Israel had previously refused to release.

The final phase of talks got underway in Cairo last Wednesday, when Cohen and the head of Israel's negotiating team David Meidan met with Egyptian mediators while Hamas officials sat in an adjacent building.

The talks were renewed on Sunday morning, after Yom Kippur, and the agreement was signed on Tuesday morning at 8 A.M. It was immediately sent for government approval.

 

Bijzonderheden over vrij te laten Palestijnse gevangenen - Marwan Barghouti zit er niet bij

 

Hieronder meer details over de door Israel vrij te laten gevangenen in ruil voor Gilad Shalit. Elder of Ziyon (onder het Jpost artikel) meldt dat er bijna geen ‘top terroristen’ bij zitten, en somt de belangrijkste op. Dat is goed nieuws. Overigens meldde de Volkskrant vanmorgen vroeg nog dat Barghouti volgens Palestijnse bronnen wel vrijgelaten zou worden (Israelische bronnen, die vanaf het begin meldden dat hij er niet bij was, vond men blijkbaar niet belangrijk). Elder maakt ook de volgende, haast terloopse, opmerking:

 

Israel has been releasing a few hundred prisoners a month for years now, so waiting a couple of months and then releasing 577 of Israel's choosing is not too bad.

Hoeveel mensen weten dat? Overigens werd door Hamas beweerd dat de meeste gevangenen lange straffen moesten uitzitten. 

 

RP

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Prison Service preparing release of Palestinian prisoners

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=241498

By YAAKOV LAPPIN AND JPOST.COM STAFF 
10/12/2011 09:57 

Aharonovich holds planning session with senior officials; 450 Palestinians, Israeli Arabs to be released in first stage of Schalit deal.

The Prison Service Wednesday morning began preparing for the release of security prisoners as part of a prisoner exchange deal for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit that will see 1,027 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons.

Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovich met with police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino and senior officials from Israel Prisons Service (IPS) Wednesday morning in order to updatethem on the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

Instructions were given to the IPS on preparations for carrying out the deal. 
"You must prepare for a range of scenarios in the prisons and outside of them," Aharonovich  told the IPS during the meeting.

Among the preparations being made were plans for dealing with possible unrest among security prisoners who discover that they are not on the list of prisoners to be released.

Details of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange deal approved by the cabinet emerged Tuesday night. 

A total of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released in the deal, in two stages. In the first stage, 450 prisoners will be released, 280 of whom are serving life sentences.

Of those, Israel agreed to release 96 prisoners to the West Bank and 14 to east Jerusalem. Another 203 from the West Bank will be deported to Gaza and 40 will be sent abroad. Further, 131 prisoners from Gaza will be released back to Gaza. 

Of the 110 prisoners being released to the West Bank and east Jerusalem, half will have limited freedom of movement. Some will not be able to travel abroad, or leave their home cities. Only 55 of those 110 prisoners are Hamas operatives. 

Six Israeli Arabs will be released to their homes and 27 female prisoners will be released as a part of the deal.

Schalit will then be sent to Israel, and another 550 prisoners – including women and minors – will be released.

Jailed terrorists Marwan Barghouti, Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed and Ahmed Sa'adat will not be released as part of the deal.

A full list of the prisoners set to be released in the deal will be released to the public 48 hours before the exchange takes place. 

 

 

Details on the first set of prisoners (YNet)

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/10/details-on-first-set-of-prisoners-ynet.html

 

From YNet:

 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen said that in the first phase of the swap, Israel will release 450 prisoners. Two months later, Israel will choose an additional 577 prisoners it wants to release.

All Palestinian female prisoners held in Israeli prisons are included in the list of 450 including Amina Mona, a young woman who lured a lovestruck Israeli teenage boy by the name of Ophir Rahum to a Palestinian city over the Internet, only to have him killed by waiting terrorists. 

Israel will release 110 prisoners to the West Bank (14 to east Jerusalem) while 131 will return to their homes in the Gaza Strip.

Of the 450 prisoners to be released in the first phase, 280 are serving at least one life sentence.

However, Israel scored a major victory as nearly all top Palestinian terrorists will not be freed in the exchange, including:

·                  Marwan Barghouti who was sentenced to five life sentences for his role in the murders of Israelis during the al-Aksa intifada

·                  Abdullah Barghouti who is serving out 67 consecutive life terms for building the bombs that murdered 66 people

·                  Ahmed Saadat who headed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and was responsible for the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi

·                  Hassan Salama, a Hamas leader who was convicted of murdering 67 Israeli citizens

·                  Abbas a-Sayed, mastermind of the Park Hotel suicide bombing in which 30 Israelis were killed on the eve of Passover 2002

·                  Ibrahim Hamed, who was found guilty of involvement in terrorist attacks that led to the death of 82 Israelis

"450 is a large number but 300 are leaving the area to Gaza or overseas," Cohen said.

 

Israel has been releasing a few hundred prisoners a month for years now, so waiting a couple of months and then releasing 577 of Israel's choosing is not too bad.

And the fact that the top terrorists are not being released is very good news.

Ma'an quotes other Israeli sources as saying that of the initial set of prisoners, 23 are from Fatah, 6 from the DFLP, 6 from the PFLP, and all the rest from Hamas.

 

 

 

Is Shalit honderden terroristen waard?

 

Zie ook de analyse in de Jerusalem Post over de vraag waarom het nu wel, en eerder niet, tot een deal is gekomen.

 

Ik ben het niet eens met Elder hieronder, hoewel het natuurlijk klopt dat de terroristische groeperingen nu ook mensen genoeg hebben om aanslagen te plannen en andere vervelende dingen te doen. Het hoofd van de Shin Beth heeft gezegd dat ze de situatie kunnen hanteren. Het klopt dat er genoeg Palestijnen zijn die sympathiseren met het ‘gewapende verzet’ en hand- en spandiensten kunnen verrichten, maar een deel van de gevangenen die nu worden vrijgelaten waren juist ook bij het denkwerk erachter betrokken. Ze regelden zaken, hadden connecties, ervaring, know-how. Deze mensen zijn niet zomaar te vervangen en daarom versterkt het Hamas wel degelijk als een aantal van hen nu terugkeren en de gelederen weer komen versterken. Maar misschien nog wel belangrijker is de psychologische overwinning van Hamas, en de motivatie die het mensen geeft om aanslagen te plegen. Je weet dat Hamas ervoor zorgt dat je binnen een redelijke tijd weer vrij komt en je vervolgens als held wordt onthaald. Hamas heeft al aangekondigd meer mensen te kidnappen om zo alle gevangenen vrij te krijgen. De deal zal Hamas ook versterken tegenover Fatah, en daarom zal de druk op Israel toenemen om nu extra toegeeflijk te zijn naar Abbas. Israel moet immers laten zien dat onderhandelen meer oplevert dan vechten (hoewel Abbas nauwelijks heeft onderhandeld, en steeds maar weer voorwaarden blijft stellen).

Ik begrijp de vreugde dat men Shalit binnenkort terug heeft, en het is erg prettig als Hamas nu even niks in handen heeft tegen Israel, maar ik vraag mij serieus af hoelang de volgende ontvoering duurt. Bovendien zal men nu extra bang zijn voor ontvoeringen, en Hamas is extra gemotiveerd. Elder schrijft:

 

It proves that one side values human life and the other despises it. We all know this, of course, but it is important to remind the world that there is a right and a wrong, a side that is moral and one whose entire existence is based on immorality.

 

Dat is me net iets te makkelijk. Het klopt dat er een groot verschil is, immers de hele martelaren cultus van de Palestijnen is gebaseerd op het gegeven dat de dood niet zo erg is en je je graag offert voor het grotere goed en Allah. Daarin gaan de Palestijnen vrij ver, gezien het feit dat Hamas burgers als menselijk schild gebruikt en aanslagen pleegt wetende dat er een Israelische reactie komt. Maar iets daarvan zit in veel culturen, het is een cultus van heroiek en sterven voor je zaak, en de geschiedenis van Masada is daar bijvoorbeeld ook op gebaseerd. Als Elder met ‘a side whose entire existence is based on immorality’ groeperingen als Hamas bedoelt, dan kan ik me er wel wat bij voorstellen, hoewel ik het een erg boude uitspraak blijf vinden, maar je kunt dit zeker niet voor de Palestijnen in het algemeen zeggen. Goed en slecht loopt door de kampen heen, door individuen heen en door conflicten heen. Bovendien vind ik dat de grootste fouten bij het Palestijnse leiderschap liggen en niet bij individuele burgers die door de dagelijkse propaganda murw gemaakt niet meer beter weten.

 

Overigens zal de wereld een en ander waarschijnlijk anders interpreteren. Men zal niet denken ‘goh, wat sympathiek dat Israel voor een soldaat zoveel terroristen vrijlaat’, maar ‘als Israel nu zomaar zoveel terorristen vrijlaat, zijn ze blijkbaar toch niet zo gevaarlijk als men altijd beweert’. En: ‘Israel hecht zoveel waarde aan een Joods leven, kijk eens in hoe een schril contrast dat staat met hun onverschilligheid voor Palestijns leven’. Dat laatste is niet helemaal terecht, want in vergelijking met andere asymetrische oorlogen (zoals ook die tegen de Taliban in Afghanistan) doet Israel het behoorlijk goed wat betreft het vermijden van onschuldige slachtoffers, maar er is natuurlijk een verschil. Israel behandelt Palestijnse kinderen in ziekenhuizen, en zelfs gewonde terroristen worden door Israelische dokters behandeld en genezen. Maar er zijn ook voorbeelden van soldaten die wel erg makkelijk leken te schieten terwijl er geen levensbedreiging was, zoals bij  de Gazaanse arts die drie dochters verloor. Dat Israel het leven van Joden hoog aanslaat en er bereid is ver voor te gaan, dat zal (helaas) de sympathie voor Israel niet echt vergroten, en vindt men op zijn best vanzelfsprekend. 

 

RP

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Is the Shalit deal worth it?

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/10/is-shalit-deal-worth-it.html#disqus_thread

 

I'm seeing a number of people in the comments, on Twitter and on groups I follow who are against the Shalit deal if it means that hundreds of murderers are freed in exchange.

The argument has two components.

One is that they are likely to kill Israelis in the future - as we  have seen happen in the past, many times. And families of victims of the murderers are understandably upset at the thought that the monster will go free.

The other argument is that these one-sided swaps encourage terror groups to kidnap more people to facilitate more swaps.

I am sympathetic to these arguments. I've even made these arguments. And from a utilitarian perspective, they make a great deal of sense - one person's life is not worth the lives of many possible future victims.

However, there is a flaw in this logic, one that to me can tip the scales towards supporting the swap.

The fact is that the terror groups are already filled with people who would kill Israelis at every opportunity. The fact is that these groups already have a strategy of kidnapping any Israelis they can. With a few exceptions, most of the prisoners are not the brains behind successful terror attacks - they were just facilitators, people who are interchangeable with hundreds and thousands of other members of Hamas and Fatah and Islamic Jihad.

The reason that there have been relatively few terror attacks over the past few years isn't because of a lack of trying - it is because Israel is better at defending herself. The number of potential terrorists has remained steady at best, and the ones being released would not change that appreciably.

Yes, statistically there is a good chance that there will be future attacks involving some of the  terrorists in this swap. But chances are the attacks would occur anyway with different people. Brainless terror drones  are a dime a dozen in the territories.

The organizers who actually dream up new ways of killing should not be released. But most of the terrorists in the swap, from what I can tell, do not fit that description.

On the other side, a swap shows how much value Israel attaches to its people, and how unified Israelis are in grieving over tragedy and celebrating good news. It proves that one side values human life and the other despises it. We all know this, of course, but it is important to remind the world that there is a right and a wrong, a side that is moral and one whose entire existence is based on immorality. Additionally, the release of Shalit means that there is no longer anything that Hamas can hold over the heads of Israelis.

(None of this calculus applies if Shalit is, God forbid, not alive.)

I hope that this deal is finalized and that we can all celebrate the release of a healthy Gilad Shalit very soon.