Palestinian Prisoners in Israel - Prisoner Exchanges and Releases

Prisoner Exchanges and Releases

Israel has released Palestinians in prisoner exchange agreements concluded with various Palestinian militia factions. In 1985, Israel released 1,000 prisoners, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in exchange for three Israeli POWs being held by Ahmed Jibril. The 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip called for the release of Palestinian detainees in stages, as part of a series of "confidence-building measures." Upon the Israeli withdrawal from populated Palestinian centers in 1995, many Palestinians in military jails were transferred to jails inside Israel, which some Palestinian activists said was a breach of articles 49 and 76 of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting deportations. The 1998 Wye River Memorandum specified that Israel was to release 750 Palestinian prisoners, some 250 of which were released by the time of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum in 1999. Wye 2 reduced the number of those to be released from 500 to 350, and these were freed by mid-October 1999. Israeli released 26 security prisoners at the beginning of Ramadan, half of whom had a few months left to serve. An additional seven prisoners from East Jerusalem were released the next day after protests from the Palestinian Authority, which had expected more. In 2000, another 18 prisoners were released as a goodwill gesture in March and June.

At a meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in February 2005, Israel pledged to release another 900 Palestinian prisoners of the 7,500 being held at the time. By the spring of 2005, 500 of these had been released, but after Qassam rocket attacks on Sderot on 5 May, Ariel Sharon withheld the release of the remaining 400, citing the need for the Palestinian Authority to rein in militants.

On 25 August 2008, Israel released 198 prisoners in a "goodwill gesture" to encourage diplomatic relations and support Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

On 15 December 2008, Israel released 224 Palestinian prisoners from Ofer Prison in the West Bank, 18 of them released to the Gaza Strip.

In 2011, the Israeli government released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for more than five years. Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari was quoted in the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Hayat as confirming that the prisoners released as part of the deal were collectively responsible for the killing of 569 Israeli civilians. The agreement is the largest prisoner exchange agreement Israel has ever made, given that as part of the agreement Israel agreed to release 1,027 prisoners for one captured Israeli soldier – the highest price Israel has ever paid for a single soldier. Gilad Shalit was also the first captured Israeli soldier to be released alive in 26 years.

In October 2012, the Israeli defence establishment alleged that dozens of the released Palestinian prisoners in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange had resumed terrorist activity. Many of them have joined the leadership of Hamas, other Palestinian prisoners have instead developed weapons and fired rockets at Israeli population centers, and some have recruited members to new terrorist cells in the West Bank. One of these cells in Hebron planted a bomb and plotted to kidnap an Israeli soldier. Prisoners in the West Bank have also engaged in violent acitivty, and Israel arrested 40 of them for rioting, hurling Molotov cocktails, handling funding for terrorism, and other acts.