Israel: Gilad Shalit freed, along with hundreds of Palestinians

I thought that I would find myself in this situation many more years. If they wanted to secure my freedom, they had to pay a price for this.
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit • Discussing his situation on Egyptian television this morning after getting freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip. Freedom for Shalit, who was there for five years, did cost Israel immensely — they had to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to allow for his freedom. Nearly 500 were freed today. In Palestine, those prisoners were welcomed with cheers by Hamas — while Shalit’s own return was much more subdued, with Israeli officials concerned that freeing so many prisoners at once could cause security issues. source

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1,000 number of Palestinian prisoners expected to be freed in an exchange with Israel; as you might guess, this is controversial for some
one number of Israeli prisoners expected to be freed in exchange; this one, however, is Gilad Shalit, whose plight is fairly well-known source

» The fight goes to court: While Shalit’s parents fight for his freedom, families of the victims of militants in Israel aren’t exactly quite happy with this situation, and are trying to fight it in court. It’s unlikely the court is willing to fix this, but Israeli leaders are trying to soft-pedal this nonetheless. “I understand the difficulty in accepting that the vile people who committed the heinous crimes against your loved ones will not pay the full price they deserve,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a letter to families affected by the exchange.

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For more than three years, Gilad Shalit has been held hostage. It is believed he is being held somewhere in Southern Gaza. Since his capture, his parents have received three handwritten letters from him.
A petition letter from the Jewish Agency for Israel • Regarding the status of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli prisoner of war who has been prevented contact with his family over three years. This was part of a coordinated campaign to get Shalit’s hashtag to become one of Twitter’s trending topics, and it worked. He’s now only below Sen. Ted Kennedy, plus we learned something new. This is the new activism, kids. Take notes. • source

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18 Oct 2011 10:15