Time For Israel to Free Palestinian Prisoners
The eulogies for President Gerald R. Ford provided a timely reminder about the necessity, in extreme situations, of "thinking large."
Ford, of course, came to office as a result of Watergate. From the first minutes of his Presidency he was dogged by questions about the future of his disgraced predecessor, Richard M. Nixon.
Would he be indicted? What were the implications of putting a President on trial? Would he be convicted and then jailed?
According to Ford, 90% of his time in the first days of his administration dealt with Nixon, making it difficult for Ford to achieve his goal of ending our "long national nightmare."
But then Ford pardoned Nixon, ending the nightmare with a single decisive act.
Historians believe that it was that act that caused his defeat by Jimmy Carter two years later. But, by and large, they also believe Ford did the right thing. Decades later, Senator Edward Kennedy presented Ford with the JFK "Profile in Courage Award," stating, "that time has a way of clarifying past events, and now we see that President Ford was right in 1974." And that he had been “thinking large.”
Israelis have a unique way of expressing the concept of "thinking large" or, more precisely, of "thinking small." They call those who can't see the big picture a "rosh katan" or "small head."
No Israeli leader wants to be thought of as a “rosh katan” although several Prime Ministers have earned the title. That is one reason that Israel is in the fix it is in. Many Israeli policies are small-minded. Few are remotely as large as the problems they are intended to address.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Dec. 23 surprise negotiating session with Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas was an example of thinking large –
although not large enough.
The session took place at the Prime Minister’s residence. For the first time ever, the Palestinian flag was flown over an official Israeli building. At the meeting, Olmert agreed to release $100 million of Palestinian tax revenue (a portion of Palestinian funds that Israel had withheld from the Palestinian Authority since Hamas was elected).
To improve President Abbas’s military position, Israel agreed to allow troops loyal to him to enter the Palestinian territories from Jordan, and approved the transfer of weapons from Egypt to Palestinian security forces. Israel also agreed to remove more than two dozen roadblocks in the West Bank to ease border crossings to allow the Palestinian economy to begin to recover.
Bold moves, although partially torpedoed by the announcement of the new or expanded Maskiot settlement in the West Bank. And unfortunately a key issue – the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails -- was not addressed.
It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of the prisoners to Palestinians. There are at this time some 9200 of them, 351 under the age of 18. The prisoners include members of the elected Palestinian Legislative Council, parliamentarians who were snatched this summer.
Ghassan Khatib, a minister in the previous Abbas government, says: "The prisoner issue is crucial because those who have suffered the consequences of imprisonment, whether directly or as relatives of prisoners, constitute a vast majority of society. Secondly, prisoners are also perceived as the most credible members of society because of the sacrifices they have made in resistance to the occupation."
This attitude toward prisoners is not limited to Palestinians. The Jews who violently resisted the British and Arabs in pre-'48 Israel were also lionized by the public. Two future Prime Ministers had been considered dangerous terrorists by the British and they were on every British "Most Wanted" list in the 1940’s. The Acco (Acre) prison where Irgun and Stern Gang fighters were held is today a shrine. The prisoners who were executed there are national martyrs.
Prisoners are important symbols although some, like the Lebanese thug, Samir Kuntar (who wiped out a Jewish family in Nahariyah in 1979) are just monsters who should never see the light of day. Another was Kuntar’s Jewish counterpart, Asher Weisgan, a West Bank settler, who murdered four Palestinian workers in 2005 to protest the Gaza withdrawal. He hung himself (with his tefillin or phylacteries) in prison last month.
But most prisoners are not in that category. Some committed no violent acts. Many haven’t even been charged. The main reason no progress was made on the prisoner issue last month is that Hamas is still holding Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was captured six months ago. Olmert feels he cannot release Palestinian prisoners to Abbas until Shalit is back home or until he at least has both proof that Shalit is alive and a solid commitment that he will be freed.
That is not a commitment Abbas can give Olmert because, according to Israeli sources, President Abbas does not know where Shalit is being held and certainly cannot secure his release. Only Hamas can.
But Israel does not negotiate with Hamas. And Hamas will not free Shalit to its worst enemy, Abbas. The Egyptians -- nobly trying to finesse the various divides and win freedom for Shalit and the Palestinians – seem to be stymied. Meanwhile, Shalit and the Palestinian prisoners who would be freed in exchange for Shalit’s release remain in captivity.
What a disaster.
But Ben Caspit, the highly respected Ma'ariv correspondent, sees a way Olmert can use the prisoner issue to Israel’s advantage. Caspit believes that, as soon as its feasible, Israel should undertake a massive release of prisoners deemed no longer a danger to Israel and hand them over to Abbas. Why? “’Because the struggle between Abbas and Hamas is crucial to the region's future. Because Hamas should be punished for the kidnapping of Shalit, and the release of prisoners to its great enemy is suitable and appropriate punishment."
In other words, Israel should use the prisoner issue to defeat Hamas. If Palestinians see that only Israel – working with Abbas, and not Hamas -- can deliver the commodity they most want, Israel will have inflicted more damage to Hamas than any of the punishment imposed on it since Hamas came to power.
A prisoner release like that would be as wise as the 2004 release of 436 prisoners in exchange for a shady businessman and the bodies of three soldiers was foolish. Guess who Israel released those prisoners to? Hezbollah -- sending the clear message to Palestinians that Abbas could not deliver but Hezbollah could.
Israel cannot afford small thinking like that especially when the status quo is so malignant -- not when Iran is undertaking a massive build-up of Hamas's military potential so that, in a year or two, it will be able to launch a full-scale attack on Israel, along the lines of the Hezbollah onslaught last summer.
That kind of threat must surely concentrate Olmert's thinking. Israel could, of course, invade Gaza to root out Hamas. But an invasion is not likely to accomplish much of anything. Organizations like Hamas rise out of ashes. That is their specialty. Hezbollah, for instance, is believed to be at least as powerful today as it was before Israel struck so hard last year.
The threat remains, a sword of Damocles hanging over northern Israel. Fortunately, Hamas does not yet pose that level of threat. It is not fully in charge in Palestine, not with Abbas controlling the Presidency.
Polls show that 60% of the Palestinian public want new elections and 86% believe their lives have deteriorated since Hamas took over.
This presents Israel with a great opportunity. It can defeat Hamas, perhaps once and for all, by doing everything in its power to build up Hamas’s adversary. Of course, it is up to the Palestinians to decide on their own future.
But Israel can help tip the scale. Some large thinking is required. No small heads wanted, not in Israel and not among the usual suspects -- Israel’s supporters here in the United States. either.
FILM RECOMMENDATION: Over the holiday I saw an amazing film, the finest on a Jewish or Israeli theme that I’ve ever seen. It is called “Live and Become.” It is a French-Israeli production that tells the story of one Ethiopian boy brought to Israel during one of the rescue missions in the 1980’s. In Washington, where I saw it, the theater was packed with American Jews and non-Jewish Ethiopian immigrants. To put it simply, both groups were absolutely blown away by this film. I won’t say more. Check the website to see when it’s being shown in your neck of the woods.
There is no doubt that Israel with help from Egypt should do all it can to support Abbas and undermine Hamas. However, there is the matter of the Israeli soldier, Shalit.
Supposedly there is a deal in the works now. A photo of Shalit will be given to Egypt and the Israelis will free a few Palestinian prisoners. Then Shalit will be given to Egypt and Israel will release 450 Palestinian prisoners. According to Haaretz the biggest impediment to this deal is the conflict between Fatah and Hamas.
Your Palestinian poll numbers belie what I thought you used to believe. That the holding back of "their own money" by Israel and the general boycott of the Hamas government was a bad thing. Aren't you suggesting this was the correct strategy?
By the way if Hezbollah is really as powerful now as it was before the war it would be because it is being rearmed by Iran and Syria. Wouldn't this suggest that the government of Lebanon is largely meaningless? How many countries can function with an independed army within its borders.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 6, 2007 8:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting idea. I do think that Israel has to be careful not to make the Egyptian negotiators look foolish, i.e. for Israel to act unilaterally and without regard to the careful arrangements now being negotiated through the Egyptians might, as an unintended consequence, make the Egyptians seem beside the point. But I like the concept you propose.
January 6, 2007 8:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good idea, since we know that releasing mass murdering terrorists to resume their activity can only advance peace. I swear, I think being a leftist has to be some sort of mental illness. You sure prove that some of the Jews worst enemies are leftist Jews who literally give their enemies the weapons to kill them with.
January 6, 2007 8:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3348962,00.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070106/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_politics_1
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3348921,00.html
And the world expects that Israel is supposed to somehow make peace with these barbarians.
January 6, 2007 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think that is quite fair. You are correct that many are too cavalier about the lives of Israelis. However, who are you going to make peace with? Israel can annihilate its enemies and if left with no other choice they may have to. However, they would be much better off with a peace deal that helps Jordan, Egypt maybe Lebanon and one day the Palestinians join the world economy. Only a peace deal is going to do that. It is going to have be done with murders and terrorists.
Ben Gurion hated Begin. Begin was a terrorist. He championed the Oriental Jews and became Prime Minister and made the deal with Sadat. That deal has pretty much guaranteed Israels survival no matter what the Palestinians do. It shows that people can change and peace is the only real trade.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 6, 2007 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Of course those stupid Palestinians, if only they had not captured Shalit, Israel was planning to release the prisoners the very next week!
In fact it was part of the Clinton deal that Arafat rejected that would have given everything they could possibly win if only they had not preferred a useless intifada!!!
BTW Aren't you leaving it a bit late to be showing how you are so "large thinking"? There have already been public announcements that Hamas has rejected an offer of 1000 prisoners and Israel has refused to offer 1500.
As the George Bernard Shaw's anecdote goes about a lady saying "what do you take me for" over a small sum offered for sex after expressing interest in a large sum:
"Madame, you have already established what you are. The question under discussion is your price."
The modality has also already been announced - Israel releasing some prisoners first, then Hamas releasing Shalit to Egypt, then Israel releasing more, then Shalit to Israel, then Israel releasing more.
Its even too late for you to appear to be even a millimetre ahead by mentioning that Marwan Barghouti must be included since he is the obvious leader of a national unity government that could reach a settlement with Israel.
If you want to at least give the appearance of being ahead of Olmert, how about "boldly" pontificating that Israel must accept the 1967 borders as the basis for negotiations.
You actually do have some readers who don't already know that's what has to be done or that Olmert is going to do it.
January 6, 2007 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
No one is suggesting anyone release any 'mass murdering terrorists'. Of all the people who 'hate democracy', I'd have to put those who believe that imprisonment without charges or trial is not only acceptable but actually sufficient evidence of being a 'mass murdering terrorist' at the front of the line. (see also: GITMO)
January 6, 2007 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
If Shalit had not been kidnapped in Israel a prisoner swap would be a lot easier.
The Intifada was very useful, just not for peace. It was useful for Arafat to reclaim control over the Palestinian movement. If he had not it is likely he events would have gotten out ahead of him and he ran the risk of being displaced or being assinated.
Olmert came to office on the plan to negotiate withdrawal from the West Bank based on the Taba deal which was based on the 1967 line. However, Shalit was kidnapped the two soldiers were grabbed by Hezbollah and missiles were fired at Israel. Thus went the deal for the West Bank.
You might try getting ahead of the Palestinians before they kill each other.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 6, 2007 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree,
Also, it's time for America to free Muslim prisoners,
for Russia to free Chechens prisoners and so on ..
In general, it's a novel idea. It was never tried before to free enemy prisoners in the middle of the war.
January 6, 2007 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
ROCKETS were indeed fired at Israel. Thousands of them.
Fortunately, Israeli experts assessing the IAF's ability to contain the threats posed by short-range rockets (practically nil) and medium to long-range rockets (excellent) don't confuse Hezbollahs' rockets and the MISSILES that are in Syrian hands.
But it does sound much better and scarier for those who are supporters of Israel to misuse the terminology in order to recruit clueless Americans into their club of fear.
January 6, 2007 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
This discussion of the situation in the WB and Gaza completely ignores the fact that American policy is the driving force behind fomenting a civil war between Abbas and Hamas and the prime mover in supplying the weapons and money to implement it.
Why ignore US contributions to the current situation? Especially since the Israelis have had to be convinced that it's in their best interests to allow the training and arming of Palestinians, regardless of their political affiliations and supposed allegiance to Abbas.
MJ's claim that Hamas considers Abbas their "worst enemy" is politely, a crock. Hamas knows very well who their true enemies are and the return addresses are in Tel Aviv and now, Washington DC.
Fortunately, MJ's fearsome warnings that Hamas will turn into Hezbollah in two years are overwrought and ignore the fact that the Palestinians are corraled by Israel and infiltrated by the Shin Bet. Hezbollah has had decades to set up their military/command infrastructures and was notoriously impenetrable to Israeli intelligence resources. It's ludicrous and dangerous to conflate the threats between the two groups , even if such comparisons are for propaganda purposes only.
The Jewish Virtual library states that 400 prisoners released in 2004 were turned over to the PA, not Hezbollah. Germany helped broker the deal and the two dozen plus Lebanese prisoners were returned to Beirut via Germany. There were 60 bodies of Lebanese "terrorists" returned through the agency of the IRC:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/prisonerswap012904.html
The 3 dead Israeli soldiers and the live Israeli drug dealer were in the control of Hezbollah therfore, they, not the PA were the negotiating party.
By all means, release prisoners, the women and children first.
January 6, 2007 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, they can free Palestinians from behind jail walls ... setting them 'free', behind another ...
Snerd
January 6, 2007 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
England (and many other countries) ruled hostile people for decades by playing different factions off against one another. Israel has never gotten the knack of this. I think it's because
(1) Israelis have this ideal that all Jews should work together for the same end and
(2) they subconsciously believe that all Arabs are cooperating.
Ideal (1) has rarely held in the real world, and belief (2) is even further from the truth. However, this mindset explains some of the spectacular miscalculatins that Isarel has made in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
So let's change the curriculum in Israeli schools. Forget about the history of the Jews. Israelis should learn the history of the British empire really, really well.
January 6, 2007 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The moment that you reach the conclusion that you have nothing to live for, you immediately find that you have something to die for."
Concludes Shin Bet veteran Nissim Levy in his answer to the question:
"As someone who is familiar with the conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza, do you feel empathy toward them?"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/809590.html
January 7, 2007 1:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Only if Olmert is a bigger jerk than he appears to be would he take Mr. Rosenberg's advice to unilaterally hand thousands of prisoners over to Abbas--quite a few of whom, besides Kuntar, are not the paragons of virtue Mr. Rosenberg posits--with no assurance that Cpl. Shalit will be returned in good health. When Hamas, with Iran's and Syria's encouragement, prevents Shalit's release to make Olmet and Abbas look terrible, that would guarantee the early election of Likud and the end of any chance of West Bank negotiations with Abbas.
Mr. Rosenberg, does our mutual friend, Shimon Peres, agree with you that's what Olmert should do?
January 7, 2007 5:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
The conclusion that Fatah is necessarily better that Hamas seems specious to me after considering recent research released by an Israeli based human rights organisation.
B'Tselem defines itself as "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories". It publicised their 2006 annual statistics in a press release issued on December 28, 2006.
All mainstream American Media remained quiet, not reporting it. From the report:
The 2005 data was: 197 Palestinians were killed in 2005, 54 of them children, while 50 Israelis were killed, 6 of them children. B'Tselem's 2006 research, when compared to its 2005 research, shows a 335% increase (660/197) in the number of Palestinian deaths at the same time Israeli deaths decreased to 34% (17/50) of the 2005 figure.
Why is Israel supporting Fatah over Hamas?
January 7, 2007 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I want to recommend warmly -- even urgently! -- the series of interviews of Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American businessman who moved with his family from Youngstown, OH, to Ramallah with the intention of providing jobs.
That quote is from the description at the CBC which has been interviewing him regularly. The latest interview just ended (I get the CBC on sat radio down here in Texas) and it's as good a guide to what's happening in Palestine as anything I've heard or read. The difficult and complex truths may not be wanted by all on this thread, but it's there if you want to hear it. Real Audio will be posted later to listen online -- and of course the interview can be downloaded to a pod. The program guide can be found here. (Scroll down to "Sam Bahour.") Once you're on that page, you can search quite easily for the earlier series of interviews with Sam.
January 7, 2007 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your generousity with the lives of Israelis is most admirable. Qassam's and Kayushas have both landed and killed Israelis. The IAF finds it hard to find the launchers but the IDF can do so.
Supporters of Israel don't confuse the murder of Israelis with pretending it does not happen because it is so inconvenient.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 7, 2007 12:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Talk about a crock. Is there just something about the supporters of Arab murders that can't acknowledge the truth? Abbas and Fatah are of course Hamas' biggest enemy. Hamas isn't driving Israel out of Jerusalem or the West Bank. However Fatah can drive Hamas out of power.
It is absurd to ignore that though Hamas is an off-shoot of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah is dependent on the Iranian Shiites they share many traits. They reject natioanlis and individualism in favor of a religious totalitarianism. Hezbollah murdered Americans going back to the 1980s. And now Hezbollah threatens the government of Lebanon. But who cares about that. Not the so called supporters of the Arabs.
Hamas may be more recent but they seem to have no problem murdering their fellow Palestinians.
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 7, 2007 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to have a discussion about Hezbollah, start a blog about them. This tactic of making absurd ahistoric claims in order to divert dicussions at hand is as tiresome as is your juvenile namecalling.
Israel and now the US are the primary enemies of both parties and to indulge in wishful thinking that the Palestinians hate eachother more is a dangerously foolish game. Has the US directed policy of forcing a conflict between the two groups suceeded? So far, it appears to be working well as the violence is spreading. What will the long-term repercussions be? My guess is that more terrorism will be the result and it won't be restricted to Israeli targets.
But who cares about that.
January 7, 2007 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
What are you talking about? Your post makes no sense whatsoever.
You need some real help with your understanding of what went on from the military/intel perspectives during the summer war.
Here's a link to a raft of Israeli analyses (some contradictory) on just that subject from the Jaffee Center For Strategic Studies:
http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/sa/volume9_3.html
January 7, 2007 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given that Israel assassinated Sheikh Yassin with a missile and that most of the people we detained Afghanistan were eventually released without charges, it would be helpful to know what kind of charges and what kind of due process occurred with these prisoners. Otherwise, hard to have an opinion. If they're people who were caught planning to commit violence, they shouldn't be released. If they are in prison because they speak out against Israel, we should have heard about them a lot last year during the Lebanon War.
January 8, 2007 6:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
My post makes perfect sense. You generously downgraded the seriousness of the missiles fired at Israel.
The point isn't how great the missiles were but that they were and are being fired at Israel.
Other defending murder, what are you talking about?
Daniel A. Greenbaum
January 8, 2007 6:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
lally,
Perspective is everything (Ha'aretz)....
January 8, 2007 7:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
lally,
Talk about fear-mongering....
Does anything Arabs do in general, or anything Palestinians do in particular, have any effect whatsoever on the circumstances of the conflict from your point of view?
January 8, 2007 7:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Zionista.
Actually, I don't think in terms of "Arabs" at all. I tend to look at the populations of countries in the vicinity by their more specific nationalities as their situations vary greatly.
I leave it to you and your compadres to generalise about "Arabs".
January 8, 2007 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
The point is that you should learn the deadly difference between rockets and missiles.
Obviously, you can't be bothered.
January 8, 2007 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lally,
Funny, I never really thought of the Arab League as a compadre before.
January 8, 2007 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
I would suggest that if a negotiated peace is the goal that there is a real reason to let the prisoners out of detention. I do not want to argue any particular case but to make an observation.
Today the leaders opposing Israel are very young.
The older ones were either assonated or in prison.
The young are not married and have fewer stakes in family institutions. An older married leader may (and you have to play averages) be more committed to a negotiated settlement in the shorter term.
The idea that there is no partner to negotiate with also is a distraction. No negotiation starts with a "partner".
Negotiations end with "partners" if both sides have reached mutually agreeable commitments.
Go to respected sources of Christian, Jewish and Muslims ideals from history and make a list for each religion of that which shows fidelity in every day actions of the religious to their beliefs. Can it be found in any conflicts today?
Have we forgotten that we are part of humanity before we are a citizen of any Nation State?
Were we human before our each of our religions was founded?
That is to say we as individuals and any leader should be described as good, bad, or having a good or bad heart before any other group descriptor is applied.
-----------------------------------------------
Today, are we searching for I deals or Ideals?
-Thinking
January 8, 2007 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Who are Zionista's "compadres"? :-)
January 8, 2007 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL.
January 8, 2007 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Why is Israel supporting Fatah over Hamas?"
The usual suspects in DC have convinced the weak Israeli leadership that it's in their best interests. I followed these developments in the Israeli media but this article (H.T. Dan K) lays the whole damn mess out quite well:
http://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=143
January 8, 2007 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Mr. Rosenberg, does our mutual friend, Shimon Peres, agree with you that's what Olmert should do?"
Yesterday I asked Mr. Rosenberg a simple question, but he refuses to answer it. Sigh.
January 8, 2007 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Elliott Abrams, a very good example of why NeoCons should face a withering enfilade of moral awakening, and be painted with indelible ink, as they scurry to their cover under rocks provided by right-sided think-tanks, and wait for the slime to be washed from their public image. America should never forget.
January 9, 2007 1:36 AM | Reply | Permalink