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AN ISRAELI SOLDIER captured by Gaza militants will likely return home on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for his family on Friday, ending a five-year ordeal for his family and the country.
Sergeant Gilad Shalit will be freed by the militant Islamic Hamas in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in a deal first announced earlier this week by the two sides.
The Tuesday date from the family spokeswoman was the highest level indication so far of the timing for the first phase of the exchange.
Spokeswoman Tami Shienkman said that the Israeli military chief of staff, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, told the Shalit family the news late on Thursday evening in their home in northern Israel.
“If everything goes smoothly, on Tuesday he will be home,” she the told The Associated Press.
In Gaza, Hamas officials also said the exchange would take place Tuesday.
In the first phase, Shalit is set to be swapped for some 450 Palestinian prisoners. About 550 prisoners would be released two months later, according to the deal.
The military chief of staff warned that unexpected events could delay the deal, Shienkman said.
Shalit’s release would end an ordeal for his family and close a painful chapter for Israel, which was mesmerised with his plight since he was seized in a cross-border raid and dragged into Gaza in 2006 by Hamas-backed militants. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the raid.
Most 18-year-old Israelis are conscripted into the army, and many do many years of annual reserve duty afterward. They see their government as responsible for ensuring that captured soldiers are freed. Such pressure has led Israel to make several lopsided prisoner exchanges over the years.
Palestinians, meanwhile, were preparing for the return of their imprisoned relatives.
“If God is willing, we have an appointment with a great Palestinian national wedding, a historical moment, this coming Tuesday,” said Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, referring to huge celebrations expected when the prisoners are released.
“We welcome our heroes that are returning from the occupation’s jails,” he said.
Nearby, workers were erecting a large stage where prisoners would be honored after their release.
Palestinians view the case of their prisoners in Israeli jails with deep sensitivity. Most have relatives who have served time, with convictions ranging from masterminding militant attacks to throwing rocks. Palestinians see them as political prisoners and demand their freedom.
In Israel, concern over the consequences of the deal clouded joy over the prospect of freedom for the soldier.
Early Friday, a man whose parents and three of his siblings were killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing vandalised an Israeli memorial to protest the deal.
The suspect was identified in Israeli media as Shvuel Schijveschuurder, 27. He splashed paint and scrawled graffiti on the memorial of slain Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv.
He was assassinated by an extremist Israel who opposed his plan to trade West Bank and Gaza land for peace with the Palestinians.
Schijveschuurder’s parents and three siblings were among 15 people killed in a 2001 suicide bombing at a restaurant in Jerusalem.
One of the 1,027 Palestinians set to be released was involved in that bombing.
In August, Schijveschuurder said he feared the release of prisoners would lead to more violence. ”We must not return a single Palestinian prisoner sentenced to life in prison in Israel,” he told YNet News then.
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They (Israel) should give back the occupied territories for the Israeli soldier too.
Give back to whom? Israel land is the land of Israel. Israel didn’t occupy any land from those who call themselves Palestinian Arabs. The WB was conquered by Israel from Jordan in 1967 even before there were a Palestinian people. Jordan conquered the WB illegally in 1948. As a matter of fact Jordan was created in 1922 as an Arab state of Palestine in the Eastern Bank of Palestine, while the British conquered mandate failed to let the Palestinian Jews to build their state in the WB of Palestine. Israel doesn’t occupy Judea and Samaria (the small WB of the Jordanian occupation) but those lands are desputed lands.
I hope he gets home safely,
Here’s hoping his mental health will be repaired and that he can overcome the mental and probable physical torture Hamas put him through.
Probable physical torture? Probably a stupid statement from a probable strange man, probably.
It will take alot of time and care for him to adapt after so long confined and denied his most basic human rights.What happened to him was cruel beyond belief. Gilad and his family have the support of millions throughout the world and we wish them every best hope and wish for the future.
Palestinians are the whipping boys of the entire Arab world. Irish who think that Israel is an unjust aggressor are just ignorant and know nothing of humanity.
I am just surprised how some people are v sympathetic with one israel prisoner and in the same time not with thousands of Palestinians prisoners .not convincing any one. That land is Palestinian’s land.
When was Gilad a prisoner? He was denied access to his family. The Red Cross were denied access to him.
He was not even a prisioner of war as he was denied all human rights granted to p.ow.’s He is actually a hostage.
This is not an issue of land, If you wish to go on about Gaza. Would you explain when ever that area was actually part of a sovereign Palestinian state? Gaza was controlled by Egypt for years and no one called that occupation.
I don’t trust Arabs that’s why I met many an was not impressed hope this solider is ok and they have nit treated him like they treat their women
It is Israel’s land Saddik and thats how it’s going to stay so get used to it fellah.
It is very welcome that these 1028 prisoners are being released and going back to their family. All of them. I’ve an idea. Why don’t they sit down and try talking to each other. Again. And again. Violence is never a solution.
Why are Israel in defiance of so many UN resolutions? Because they probably lock up Arabs for bring Arabs, they probably are the aggressors in this situation, they probably hate everyone who’s not a Jew, they probably should give up all the land they seized illegally, they probably should stop killing Palestinian children.
Its great to hear that he is to be released and that Hamas terriosists didnt get everything they wanted to ! Ahmed Jabari ? goodnight.
Imagine that you play football against huge team of 57 Muslims players and another 100 referies that are fueled with 57 players oil, what then would the results be?
He looks like a yob, I bet he had great "fun" in the idf
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