Emotions run high ahead of swap

JERUSALEM – This week’s planned Mideast prisoner swap is unleashing deep anguish in Israel and widespread elation in the Palestinian territories, laying bare the chasm of perspective dividing the two sides.

In Israel, the public is aghast at having to release convicted perpetrators of suicide bombings, deadly shootings and grisly kidnappings, although most understand that’s what it takes to win freedom for a soldier captured during a routine patrol inside Israel at age 19.

The Palestinians, with equal vehemence, see the returnees as heroes who fought an occupier at a time of violence and argue moral equivalence between their actions and those of Israel’s army.

These diverging narratives have been reflected in reactions to the deal, in which Israel will free some 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Schalit, captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

Following initial joy over the deal, Israelis have begun to ask questions about the lopsided price their government is paying. Many argue that militants who killed Israelis could return to armed activity and that releasing so many prisoners, including many implicated in deadly attacks, bolsters groups like Hamas at the expense of more moderate Palestinians.

To address Israeli security concerns, Hamas agreed to have more than 200 West Bank-based prisoners deported to either the penned-in Gaza Strip or to a third country, where it would be much harder to carry out attacks.

While Israel has a long history of lopsided prisoner swaps, the Schalit deal has touched a nerve because memories of the attacks are so vivid. The list of prisoners who are being released reads like a who’s who of perpetrators of some of the grisliest attacks of the second Palestinian uprising, which began in 2000 and lasted roughly five years.

They include the woman who directed a suicide bomber to a crowded Jerusalem pizzeria where he killed 16 people in 2001. The woman, Ahlam Tamimi, has said in a television interview that she has no regrets.

Others on the list are Abdel Aziz Salha, who raised 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 Passover in 2002; and Ibrahim Younis, who planned a 2003 suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed seven people, including an American-born doctor and his daughter who were celebrating on the eve of her wedding.

Among Palestinians, there is disagreement over whether the use of violence has been counterproductive in the quest for statehood. Recent polls indicate that support for attacks on Israelis has dropped since the uprising ended.

But even those opposed to violence on tactical grounds argue that the prisoners sacrificed for a common cause, and the Palestinians have the right to resist Israel’s 44-year military occupation, even with what many elsewhere consider terrorist attacks.

Palestinians are quick to note that hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed in fighting with Israel as well, usually the result of “collateral damage” during military operations, such as targeted killings of militant leaders. Although Israel says it never intentionally targets civilians, Palestinians say civilian deaths are almost inevitable given the nature and locations of targets.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot that the swap for Schalit will encourage the Islamic group to capture more soldiers.

“The lessons we’ve learned by kidnapping soldiers leads us to continue the kidnappings,” he said.