Jerusalem – Israelis overwhelmingly support a lopsided prisoner swap in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released for a single captured soldier, a poll showed Monday, one day before the exchange between Israel and Hamas was slated to take place.
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The poll showed that 79 percent of Israelis support the deal under which the soldier, tank crewman Sgt. Gilad Schalit, will be released by the Hamas militants who have held him in Gaza for more than five years.
Only 14 percent said they opposed the deal.
The poll was carried out by the Dahaf Institute and published in the daily Yediot Ahronot on Monday. Pollsters interviewed 500 respondents, and the margin of error was 4.4 percentage points.
The level of support is striking, not only because of the uneven nature of the exchange but among those to be freed in return for the soldier are Palestinian militants responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against Israelis in recent memory.
Several families of victims filed court appeals against the prisoner swap, and Israel’s Supreme Court convened to hold a hearing on them Monday.
Relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinan attacks were present in the courtroom, hoping the judges would halt the exchange. Noam Schalit, the soldier’s father, also attended.
The court was not expected to accept the appeals, however, or delay the implementation of the swap.
The prisoners to be released include Ahlam Tamimi, a woman who drove a suicide bomber to a crowded Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001. The bomber killed 15 people, including seven children and teenagers.
Also on the list are Abdel Aziz Salha, who was photographed raising his bloody hands to a cheering crowd after killing two Israeli soldiers who accidentally drove into the West Bank city of Ramallah in 2000; Nasser Yateima, a mastermind of a hotel bombing that killed 30 people celebrating the Passover holiday in 2002; and Ibrahim Younis, who planned a 2003 suicide bombing in a Jerusalem cafe that killed seven people, including an American-born doctor and his daughter who were celebrating on the eve of the young woman’s wedding.
Palestinian politicians have largely tried to portray the swap as an achievement for all Palestinians, playing down the deep divides between Hamas, which held the soldier and negotiated the deal, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement. The two groups lead rival governments, Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
However, some Palestinians have attacked the deal for excluding prominent prisoners and for favoring Hamas members over Fatah.
One imprisoned Fatah leader left out of the swap, Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced by an Israeli court to five life terms for directing deadly attacks, criticized the deal in remarks relayed by his lawyer.
Barghouti has been seen as a possible successor to Abbas, but his exclusion from the swap could jeopardize his leadership ambitions.
Barghouti “thinks it was possible to achieve something better,” said lawyer Elias Sabagh after meeting with the imprisoned leader on Sunday. Barghouti noted that “the deal excluded about 120 prisoners with long sentences in Israeli prisons, including the leaders.”
Another Fatah official close to Barghouti, Kadura Fares, also criticized the deal in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio. He said that only several dozen of the 477 prisoners to be released Tuesday were from Fatah, and the rest mostly from Hamas.
In what neighbourhood was this taken? I am sceptical of the yediot. The right wing outlets indicate otherwise.
The truth is that we are paying a high price for the release of Gilad in addition it is very possible that those killers that are released will once again pick up arms once again. Therefore I am not in favor for this exchange however I imagined if it was my son that was captive if I would hold the same opinion. That is something that needs pondering at best.
Wow! 79% actually APPROVE of this swap! I find that hard to imagine!
Is anyone familiar with the entity which did the statistics for this poll? Can we trust these results?
It just seems odd to me, that so many would be ok with this swap, when so much Jewish blood has been spilt!
As I said on another article, I don’t pretend to have all the answers… but this swap just seems WRONG. It seems to me like perhaps there should have been a more “even” swap of some sort! Surely there must be more Israeli soldiers locked up in Arab prisons waiting to be released as well! What about them?!
Why should 1,027 terrorists be released for ONE soldier? Don’t get me wrong, I read that a prominent Rabbi said that ONE Jewish life is worth 2,000 Arab ones. I can understand that sentiment, being a friend to the Jewish Nation myself. Not to mention… a mother! If my son were locked up c’v’, I’d be going crazy & begging anybody to get him out at whatever cost I’m sure!
But this swap seems extremely beneficial to the Palestinian people… and VERY detrimental to Israeli Jews. I’m worried for all the Yidden over there now more than ever.
(:-(
Israelies have no idea what they want. They’re in such deep trouble that the only thing they want is for something to go on because the current suituation is unbearable. With so many threats from inside and outside they’re more than happy that some dialog is going on with the arabs and hope that this’ll lead to a final peace process.
Interesting, if you’ll poll the vin comments it will give you just the opposite.
There was nothing in the swap deal, which stated that Israel could not exact retribution against the most heinous of released killers, after they are released. It should be remembered that Israel secretly send hit squads all over the world to kill not only those responsible for the Munich Olympics massacre of 1972, but also against Nazi war criminals, who were hiding in Latin America. There were many Nazi war criminals who were killed by such hit squads. Hence, there is nothing to stop such hit squads from killing these killers, to prevent them from killing again. According to the Talmud, if someone comes to kill you, you should kill him first.
I do not believe that Poll its a blatant lie. I took a poll amongst my friends and tgey are 99% AGAINST this stupid exchange.
How many hours until 5 Israeli soldiers are kidnapped, in anticipation of the return of 5,000 arab prisoners? let the countdown begin.
I am so happy I know if it was anyone of our kids we would give back every single one of them back ……. Its a great day
It don’t make sense what’s stops them from kidnapping someone for the sake of an “exchange ” ?? but we have no choice whats if it was your son ?? Also it shows that yidden are forgiving ppl
The masses if Israelis are suicidal in many other ways as well. Self preservation is not so prevalent in Israel. The heart is used NOT their brains which causes massive havoc. Just wondering, what’s going on with the feelings of all the families whose loved one’s murderers are being let out free to roam the streets once more while their loved ones are in a grave somewhere often in bits and pieces? Why does the Shalit family get preferential treatment above all the victims of terror families? If shalit is alive and gets released it’s going to torment him forever though it’s not even his fault, it’s Bibi’s fault.
Strange poll.
If they were to query another 500, perhaps the results would be completely against?
Someone intelligent inform me…sounds very strange.
Why not poll 500,000?
Too many?
Don’t poll.
Better just make up some figures and call it ‘truth,’ ‘fact.’
There was a very good article in the past few days in (of all places!) The New York Times. It made the point that in Israel the sense of community is very powerful. Everyone in Israel is emotionally tied to Gilad Shalit as if he were almost their own child. We all felt the same thing this summer during the tragedy of little Leiby (A”H). Is there anyone who posts on this VIN boards who didn’t feel close to Leiby and would have done anything, paid any money to save him? Would you have made any deal with the kidnapper just to get him back? That’s how it is in Israel with their soldiers.
There is also, however, the issue, that what may be in the national interest may not be what the individuals want. I really don’t envy any politician in Israel who has to decide which is paramount – the saving of a single life, or refusing to negotiate with terrorists.
For those who say that the Arabs will be encouraged to kidnap more soldiers – it’s not a problem. You think they’re not trying all the time?!? B”H, they’re rarely successful.
Why did you put such a sympathetic picture of arabs looking at a list in this article?
Israel should have dealt with this hours after Shalit was captured as was done in Entebbe. If Israel didn’t know where Shalit was then they should have started bombing the Palestinian cities one by one forcing them to give us Shalit. I understand that Shalit’s life was in grave danger but I cannot condone giving Shalit up for a thousand terrorists who will certainly pick up their guns and start killing again. Because of this deal the terrorists know that they can have their way and take our soldiers and exchange them for their own murderers. Israel has weakened. I also don’t agree with the fact that a majority supports this action now.
Propaganda polls ltd. Nobody I know, not even the PM approves of this swap. He was pressured by a few very persistent groups that threatened the unity government. Make no mistake, this was a quid pro quo.