Editorial:A deal of hope Wednesday, 19 October 2011 09:21

It was a victory day for the fiery radical Palestinian faction Hamas.  Finally, for the first time in as many years, Hamas has scored a diplomatic coup against Israel. The thousand-to-one prisoner swap is a victory for Hamas over Israel. “We defeated the Israelis,” Hamas supreme leader Khaled Meshaal said in a speech broadcast from Cairo.  Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned home elated from 1,941 days of captivity in a deal that saw 477 Palestinians walk free. Shalit’s return to Israel marks the first time in 26 years that a captured soldier has been brought back alive to the Jewish state. The hard-won deal between Israel and Hamas, which was signed last week, is the highest price Israel has ever paid for one person. Hamas leaders said they would continue to fight for the release of the more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners Israel still has in custody after the 1,027 that were included in the deal are free.  The exchange appears to have undermined the standing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the more moderate Fatah leader, while raising the profile of Hamas, which negotiated the exchange through Egyptian intermediaries. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah put on a show of unity by emphasising that not only Hamas activists were freed, but also members of other factions, including Fatah. Abbas did much the same as he welcomed former prisoners to his headquarters in Ramallah and shared the stage with three Hamas leaders.

But there was little doubt that on the Palestinian side the day belonged to Hamas. Haniyah, like many in Gaza, marvelled that for five years Hamas had managed to keep Shalit hidden from Israel’s extensive security apparatus, including sophisticated electronic surveillance and a network of informers. Israel had even offered a $10m reward for information on Shalit’s whereabouts in a mass text message to mobile phones in the Gaza Strip. Shalit was a 19-year-old corporal on duty along the Gaza border when he was captured on June 25, 2006 by radicals from three Gaza-based groups, including Hamas. Three days after he was snatched, Israel launched a massive military operation against Gaza in a bid to secure his release, which lasted five months and left more than 400 Palestinians dead.

World leaders voiced hope that the release of Shalit would boost the Middle East peace process and ease regional tensions. There was no sign from Israel or Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, who favours negotiated peace, that the deal could be a starting point for dialogue.  World leaders saw room for hope in laying groundwork for a revival of peace talks shelved last year over Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. Abbas is now pushing for recognition of statehood at the United Nations, a unilateral move opposed by Israel and its main ally, the United States. He is unlikely to retreat, especially with Hamas seemingly bolstered by the swap accord.