THE ISRAELI cabinet met in emergency session last night and was expected to approve by a large majority a prisoner swap deal with Hamas under which captured soldier Gilad Shalit will be released in return for 1,000 prisoners, mostly Palestinian militants.
The dramatic development came more than five years after Sgt Shalit, now aged 25, was seized by Palestinian militants from Gaza in a daring cross-border raid on June 25th, 2006.
The last sign of life from Sgt Shalit came when his Hamas captors released a videotape in September 2009. The soldier, who appeared to be relatively well, appealed to the Israeli government to save his life.
Speaking at the start of the cabinet meeting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel and Hamas, with Egyptian mediation, initialled the prisoner swap deal last Thursday and finalised the details yesterday. He said he had informed Mr and Mrs Shalit that, if all goes according to plan, their son will return home in the next few days.
“There was great tension between bringing Shalit home and maintaining the security of Israeli citizens. I as the prime minister and the government are deeply committed to both. The window has been opened for an historic deal and it is not clear with the changes taking place in the Arab world that this window will remain open in the future,” he said.
The head of the Hamas military wing, Abu Ubaida, said one-third of the detainees to be released are hardcore prisoners serving life terms, and those to be set free include both Israeli-Arabs and residents of east Jerusalem.
Israeli officials said the prisoner swap will only take place next week as Israel must first publish the names of the prisoners to be freed and then allow for legal objections.
Under the first stage of the deal, Israel will free 450 prisoners from a list drawn up by Hamas.
Sgt Shalit will then be released and transferred to Egypt from where he will be flown to Israel.
After his return home, Israel will release the second batch of 550 prisoners. The prisoners due to be released are expected to include Ahmed Saadat, the former head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Marwan Barghouti, the former leader of the Fatah Tanzim organization.
Up till now, Israel and Hamas had failed to agree on how many of the 1,000 prisoners would be hardcore militants, described by Israel as having “blood on their hands”, and how many of the West Bank residents would be forced into exile to Gaza or abroad.
Israel insisted that allowing all the West Bank residents among the released prisoners to return to their homes would result in a surge in terrorist activity in the West Bank.
Dozens of Israelis converged last night on the vigil tent set up by the Shalit family opposite the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem to celebrate together with the soldier’s family, in front of a banner with the number 1,934, the number of days Sgt Shalit has been in captivity.
Israel has carried out several prisoner swaps in the past, notably in 1985 when hundreds of Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for several soldiers captured by a guerrilla group in Lebanon.