Shalit saga continues

With Hizbullah scoring a victory in its prisoner exchange deal with Israel, pressure is building on Hamas to do even better

By Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank
Al-Ahram Weekly

"The recent "spectacular" prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hizbullah, which plunged Israel into a state national confusion while feelings of triumph spread in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world, is already impacting on efforts to resolve the Shalit affair.......

There are more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails and detention camps, many of them political activists, politicians, lawmakers and cabinet ministers held indefinitely without charge or trial.

There are also hundreds of other prisoners, who are serving life imprisonment sentences for killing Israeli soldiers and settlers in the course of resisting, according to their legal right under international law, the Israeli military occupation.

For those, the only reasonable hope of freedom is a "successful" prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas......."