Palestine receives 447 prisoners in exchange of Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier

Palestine receives 447 prisoners in exchange of Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier

Palestine has received 447 prisoners out of 1027 according to the prisoner exchange agreement in which Israel freed its young soldier, Gilad Shalit from Hamas.

The swap was made against a single Israeli soldier Shalit who was captured by Hamas in 2006, when he was 19 years old. Both, Israel and Palestine agreed to swap over 1000 Palestinian prisoners against a Shalit.

Shalit said at the occasion when he moved through the Gaza Strip, “I hope this deal will promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”

After being freed from the Palestinian prison the Israeli soldier was interviewed by an Egyptian TV on his way back to his homeland. He claimed that this deal might be successful step for the release of other 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli captivity.

Some of the Palestinians were moved to the Gaza Strip and others headed towards the West Bank. Many families gathered at the boarders to give a warm welcome to their loved ones.

These talks had been under process for long time and were strongly supported by Germany and Egypt. The unforgiving stance from both ends and the solution less talks left many world leaders with questions. The unexpected mass prisoner exchange happened in exceptional way.

During the exchange the leaders of Hamas and the President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Movement made some pacifying comments about each other’s role to achieve the agreement. However there was no mildness in the struggle to retain the land a security over border areas.

The Hamas leaders praised their victory with the fulfilling of the deal. It was mark to free more than thousand Palestinians against one soldier.

The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh said, “The enemy retreated, Shalit remained in the hands of the holy warriors and today we have victory.”

He expressed his words along many former prisoners and crowd gathered during the occasion. The head leader of the Hamas, Khaled Meshaal said that it war was not over. Though many Palestinians have spent over a decade in captivity but the struggle continued.

He further added that he praises the action of the fighters. He claimed that, those who continue to strive will gain victory.

Posted by Samer Ahmed on Oct 19 2011. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry