Analysis // by Ben FrankelIsrael-Hamas prisoner exchange goes through

Earlier today, the initial phase of prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas has taken place; Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas operatives more than five years ago and held incommunicado since – even the Red Cross was not allowed to visit him — returned to Israel in exchange for 450 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails; in total, 1,027 Palestinian (1,000 men and twenty-seven women) will be released in the exchange

Not all the details of the agreement have been released, but it is clear that the two sides, Israel and Hamas, agreed to compromise on some key demands on which they had insisted in the past, thus making the deal possible (note that intelligence operatives in both Israel and Egypt have warned that Iran may yet find a way to intervene and scuttle the deal).

Compromises

Israel’s main compromises:

— Agreeing to release several terror master-minds who were convicted of orchestrating the killings of dozens of Israelis each

— Agreeing to release Palestinians who carried out especially gruesome killings of Israelis

— In all, 450 of the 1,027 Palestinians to be released are regarded as “serious” terrorists, and of them, 280 were serving life sentences

— In the past, Israel released hundreds of jailed Palestinians in exchange for one or two Israelis held by Palestinian groups or by Hezbollah — but Israel always insisted that such exchange deals would not include Israeli Arabs or resident of East Jerusalem who were convicted for engaging in acts of terrorism. This time, a few of the prisoners Israel is releasing from jail are Israeli Arabs and residents of East Jerusalem.

— Israel has agreed to release prisoners which have symbolic value for Palestinians – such as the cousins Fakhri and Nael Barghouti. The Barghouti cousins have been in Israeli jail for thirty-four years now.

Hamas’s main compromises:

— Hamas has given up on its demands that the most notorious of terrorists held by Israel – among them Abdallah Barghuti, Ibrahim Hamed – be released

— Fatah leader Marouan Barghuti will also remain in jail, even though Hamas leaders publicly vowed to insist on his release

— 203 of the more serious terrorists released will be expelled – that is, they will not be allowed to return either to the West Bank or to the Gaza strip, but instead will be released to Egypt and Turkey, where to intelligence services of these countries will keep en eye on them

— Only ninety-six of the Palestinian