Israel ‘rethinking position’ on prisoner swaps
AP, Jan 5 2012
Israel is rethinking its policy on prisoner swaps to avoid the kind of lopsided deals that saw Israel recently trade more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a lone Israeli soldier. A government-appointed panel submitted its recommendations in a secret report Thursday and details were not divulged. But Defense Minister Barak said Israel has “no choice but to overhaul the rules” now that Sgt Gilad Shalit has been freed after five years in captivity in Gaza. Barak told Israel Radio:
We have to get off the slippery slope we ventured on 25 years ago.
Over the past three decades, Israel has carried out a series of wildly uneven prisoner swap deals. In some cases, the freed prisoners returned to violence against Israel.
The following is completely incorrect. See the comments – RB
Israel Plans to Betray Promise on Prisoner Swap Deal
John Glaser, AntiWar.com, Jan 5 2012
Israel may betray its earlier promise (also reproduced above – RB) to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the second phase of a prisoner swap agreement that secured the release of one captive Israeli soldier. That agreement has already resulted in the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas for five years. That first exchange took place in October, and Israel had agreed to release another 550 within two months of Shalit’s release, bringing the releases to a total of 1,027. But now a government-appointed panel in Israel recommended in a secret report Thursday to back out of the deal. Defense Minister Barak would not divulge details of the report but said Israel has “no choice but to overhaul the rules” now that Sgt Gilad Schalit has been freed. The second half of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are children and minors, are reportedly serving sentences for “security offenses,” not for violent attacks or for being part of either Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Many are political prisoners. The IDF applies what is called the administrative detention policy, which allows Palestinian political prisoners to be held for six months without charge or trial. Detention orders can be renewed every six months. Qadura Fares, the president of the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club in Ramallah, told IPS in August:
It’s a primitive and racist way to hold a trial, and no civilized country in the world uses such methods. Needless to say, Israel’s legal system could never do this to an Israeli Jew. Even the Israeli settlers who carry out acts of terror against Palestinians in the West Bank are not treated in this manner.
Niqnaq 
6 Comments
The hasbarites are back. One of them just submitted a comment saying “Glaser has misread his source,” and the deal involved just the one Israeli mass release, which is the one already completed, not a series of mass releases, of which the one already completed was supposed to be just the first. I shan’t get bogged down in this.
He’s very persistent. He cites another report, which talks of the two agreed mass releases, of 450 and 550 people respectively, already being complete. He seems to be correct, if this Graun report on the deal as agreed in October is accurate. In that case, Glaser’s sources seem to need examining.
John Glaser, the author of this article, is blowing hot air out of his behind. He claims “Israel Plans to Betray Promise on Prisoner Swap Deal. The second part of the agreement – to release another 550 Palestinians after the return of Gilad Shalit – may be abandoned” when, in fact, the deal was completed in full some time ago! Furthermore, he claims that Israel doesn’t apply what is called the administrative detention policy to a Jew. However the fact is that administrative detention has been (and is) applied to Jewish extremists! Furthermore, he claims that administrative detention is a unique Israeli invention and that no civilized country in the world would use such methods. However, the fact is that “administrative detention” is a remnant of British Mandate law! Perhaps John Glaser doesn’t consider Britain a “civilized country,” but I think that it’s clear from the other falsehoods that John Glaser isn’t interested in the truth but rather in Israel bashing! Either way, the lack of fact checking in this article makes it clear that John Glaser doesn’t deserve to be called a journalist!
Correct, Hans. Glaser’s facts are wrong. The agreed releases, totalling 1027 persons, have already taken place. The first mass release, of 477 persons, was on Oct 18 2011; the second mass release, of 550 persons, was on Dec 18 2011. See here for exact figures (at the bottom). I have posted a comment to this effect beneath Glaser’s article.
However, Hans hasn’t followed the quote about administrative detention back to its source. Qadura Fares made these remarks to Mel Frykberg of IPS News. Glaser has merely quoted them, without comment. Whether the same regulations are applied to Jews or not is a question which I wouldn’t be able to answer, but in any case, what law a person is held under is one thing, how long they are held for is another thing, and how they are treated while they’re being held is yet another.
Thank you both, Hans (this is not our usual Hans, but another) and Seth. This is the first time this has happened to me. I appreciate courteous corrections. I don’t appreciate pointless sarcasm and reproof, though, Hans, so I shall consider our discussion closed.
AntiWar has pulled the Glaser article. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s sacked Glaser, too.
Hmph. No. He’s written an apology which makes it sound more as if he’s the person who would be doing the sacking, if there was any sacking to do (“We want our readers to feel confident…”):
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2012/01/06/correction-2/