Olmert: Prisoner swap demands create 'expectations we cannot meet'
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a powerful parliamentary panel today that the list of prisoners the Palestinians want freed in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier “creates expectations we cannot meet,” a meeting participant said.
The list has not been made public, but various media reports have put the number of names between 350 and 1,400, including militants convicted of involvement in fatal attacks on Israelis.
The continued captivity of Cpl Gilad Shalit, 20, captured in June by Hamas-linked militants, has been a major impediment to peacemaking efforts.
Olmert has not said how many Palestinians Israel would be willing to free in exchange for Shalit.
In a television interview this week, he hinted he would release a large number, but said it would not be 1,400.
Israel’s official position is that it will not release prisoners involved in deadly attacks, but it has done so in the past, and the list the Palestinians presented to Israel earlier this month includes prisoners who fit that profile.
Shortly after the list was submitted, Olmert termed it “disappointing,” and today, in an appearance before parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, he reiterated that assessment, a participant in the meeting said.
The list is “disappointing and creates expectations that we have no chance of meeting,” the participant – an official close to Olmert – quoted the prime minister as saying.
Israel is holding about 11,050 Palestinian prisoners, according to the army. Many are held on security offences, ranging from stone-throwing to plotting suicide bombings.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti has said two prominent Palestinians are on the list. One is Marwan Barghouti, a West Bank leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’ moderate Fatah movement, who is serving five consecutive life terms in prison, and is widely seen as Abbas’ likely successor.
The other is Ahmed Saadat, who is suspected of ordering and planning the 2001 assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister, though Israel’s attorney general ruled there was not enough evidence to try him for that. He is being held for other offences.
The prospect of releasing Palestinians convicted of violence has evoked a wide range of reactions among the families of the victims. Several have told Israeli media they approve of a swap to end the suffering of Shalit’s family, but others are adamantly opposed.
