Israel Update for December 2009

David Dolan

As Israeli government leaders worked tirelessly during the last month of 2009 to free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, the general public waited and prayed that the young prisoner would soon be released. However many politicians and media commentators questioned the high ransom being demanded by the Palestinian Hamas movement in exchange for Shalit, who was abducted in June 2006 by Hamas fighters during a cross border raid into Israeli territory.

Israeli intelligence officers confirmed media reports in early December that Hamas now possesses Iranian-built longer range rockets that can strike Tel Aviv, some 30 miles north of the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Meanwhile Iran announced it would step up financial aid to several of its regional allies, including Hamas and the Lebanese Hizbullah militia force. This came as Iranian leaders continued to verbally defy international calls to cease enriching uranium and come clean on all aspects of the country's alarming nuclear development programme.

In Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, clashes erupted between Israeli settlers and security forces several times during the month as protests took place against the Netanyahu government's late November freeze of all Jewish homebuilding projects in the disputed territories. This came as government agents fanned out to enforce the building ban, to the chagrin of many local residents.

Cracks appeared in the government coalition after the left of centre Labor party vigorously endorsed the construction halt while the Russian immigrant-based Yisrael Beiteinu party strongly questioned the action, along with several lawmakers inside the Prime Minister's own Likud party. Cheered on by the Israeli business community, Netanyahu defended the building ban as unavoidable if Israel is to nurture and guard its vital relationship with the United States. At the same time, he renewed efforts to woo the rival Kadima party to join his government coalition, hinting he might work for Kadima's dissolution if party leaders do not jump on board.

Off And On Deal

A deluge of media reports in late November and December claimed that a final deal to free Gilad Shalit was imminent. Still, details of the seemingly pending agreement, mediated by German diplomats with the help of Egyptian officials, were few and far between, with conflicting reports published and broadcast by Israeli and Arab media outlets.

The constant stream of information, or disinformation, only heightened the Israeli public's desire to see the incarcerated young man released from over 42 months of captivity, although many also expressed concern that the government would hand over some hardened Palestinian terrorists who would soon return to their murderous ways.

By early December, the picture became even murkier when Hamas leaders maintained that Israel was wrecking the deal by withholding the final list of Palestinian convicts to be released in exchange for Shalit. As in previous prisoner swaps, the Palestinians were demanding freedom for dozens of men "with blood on their hands," in other words, those who had directly participated in or led terror assaults that resulted in Israeli casualties.

Exactly to where the freed prisoners would be released was also in dispute, with several Israeli cabinet ministers insisting that some be sent to Arab countries away from Israel's immediate vicinity. Others with homes in Judea or Samaria would be effectively exiled to the nearby Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders maintained that all the prisoners must be allowed back to their family homes, including those who resided in and around Jerusalem.

Not a few government ministers echoed opposition criticism of the proposed deal. Many worried that additional IDF kidnappings will follow if Hamas is able to boast that the large prisoner exchange was totally lopsided in its favour. Still, the desire to see Gilad Shalit finally set free after over three years of fruitless efforts to secure that goal seemed strong enough to overcome all political obstacles on the Israeli side.

Concerns escalated after the government revealed that it was preparing to release nearly 1,000 Arab prisoners in exchange for Shalit. Hundreds of others are due to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority in an effort to blunt the political victory that Hamas will claim when it dramatically gets back many of its most infamous terrorist henchmen.

The information that 980 Palestinian prisoners were to be set free was published as part of the government's legal response to a lawsuit filed by an Israeli group that supports Jewish victims of Arab terror. The group, Alm Agor, reported that around 180 Israelis have been killed by terrorists who walked out of prison in previous lopsided swaps, arguing that further releases would soon come back to haunt the nation.

As the German-mediated negotiations dragged on during December, Hamas officials said disputes remained over some 50 names out of 980 prisoners expected to be set free as part of a final deal. Unconfirmed media reports indicated that the list includes some of the most notorious terrorist murderers incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

Delayed Hope