After five years in captivity, Israeli Staff Sgt Gilad Shalit could be released within a matter of days. His release is part of an agreement by Israel and Hamas. Shalit’s release is contingent on the release of more than 1,000 Palestinians being held by Israeli authorities.
The leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, believes that this deal for the release of prisoners is a monumental breakthrough for the Palestinians. The terms of the deal were very hard to negotiate and it’s something that has been on the table between Israel and Hamas for several years.
While both Hamas and Israel have a lot to gain with this deal, one of the main reasons for its sudden approval could be as an effort to draw attention away from a bid to the United Nations to create a state of Palenstine.
Egypt had an important role in the deal. It wasn’t easy, as the uprisings of the Arab spring have political tensions at an all time high. The relationship between Egypt and Israel is not as good as it once was and a lot of that can be attributed to the removal of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak as President this last February. Last month, a mob of Egyptians converged on the Israeli embassy, forcing the evacuation of embassy staff.
Twenty six of the 29 cabinet members in Israel voted for the swapping of the prisoners. There are, however, a lot of details about the deal that have not been made public. According to state television in Israel, 1,027 prisoners would be released and 27 of those prisoners are women. Three hundred and fifteen of the prisoners are serving out life sentences. There are some political prisoners, however, that would not be released, including Marwan Barghouti, who was the leader of the Fatah group. He was service five life sentences for his crimes.
Almost half of the prisoners will be released as Shalit makes his way to Egypt. That is expected to happen in the next week. It will likely be another two months before the others are freed. Shalit was captured in a raid in 2006 and has spent the last five years in custody in the Gaza Strip.
