AMMAN — Resistance movements in Palestine have
engaged in prisoner exchange deals with the Israeli occupation for decades,
between 1968 and 2011 there were many notable deals made.
اضافة اعلان
These operations successfully led to the
release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including those with life sentences
and high convictions, as well as prisoners from the occupied Palestinian
territories since 1948.
As the Qatari Emir flies to Cairo to negotiate
a possible future prison deal, the team at Khaberni took a deep dive into past
exchanges.
1969
Exchange DealIn August 1969, Leila Khaled and Salim Issawi
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an
American passenger plane traveling from Los Angeles, USA, to Tel Aviv. The
hijackers forced the pilot to fly over Haifa at a low altitude, allowing Issawi
and Khaled to see their forcibly abandoned hometown. The plane then headed to
Syria, landing in Damascus, where its 116 passengers disembarked before the
plane was detonated.
A prisoner exchange operation took place
between Israel and the PFLP, resulting in the release of Palestinian fedayeen
imprisoned by the occupation and two Syrian pilots who had made an emergency
landing in Palestine.
1971
Exchange DealIn January 1970, a cell of nine Fatah members
carried out an operation near the northern borders of Palestine. Their goal was
to place explosive devices on the wall of the "Metula" settlement
adjacent to the Lebanese border. However, the cell settled for kidnapping a
guard. Four days later, Fatah announced that the guard was their captive and
demanded the release of 100 Fatah prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange
for his release.
Negotiations between the Israeli government
and Fatah, mediated by the Red Cross, resulted in a prisoner exchange deal,
with Israeli soldier Shmuel Fais released on January 28, 1971, in exchange for
Palestinian prisoner Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, facing a death sentence, marking the
first Palestinian prisoner release in the contemporary Palestinian revolution
that began in 1965.
1979
"Litani Operation" Exchange Deal
In March 1978, the Israeli occupation forces
conducted a military operation in southern Lebanon known as the "Litani
Operation," occupying extensive areas in southern Lebanon, reaching the
Litani River, the outskirts of Tyre, and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee
camp, as well as part of the eastern sector.
During the Israeli invasion, the Popular Front
– General Command set up an ambush for an Israeli truck near Tyre on April 5,
1978, resulting in the death of 4 Israeli soldiers and the capture of a reserve
soldier named Abraham Omer.
Through the Red Cross, a prisoner exchange
deal took place in Cyprus between the Popular Front and the Israeli occupation
on March 14, 1979. The Israeli soldier was released in exchange for the release
of 76 Palestinian detainees from various resistance factions, including 12
Palestinian girls.
1980
Exchange Deal
"Fatah" detained Amina Al-Mufti, who
was discovered while working for Israeli intelligence in Lebanon, providing
information about Palestinian resistance organizations and their leaders.
Al-Mufti, of Jordanian nationality and belonging to a Muslim Circassian family,
converted to Judaism and married a Jewish pilot in Austria. She settled with
him in Israel. During the October 1973 war, her husband's plane was shot down
over Syrian territory. Unable to find him, she returned to Austria, where Israeli
intelligence offered her the role of a spy.
On February 13, 1980, an exchange operation
took place through the Red Cross in Cyprus, leading to the release of Amina
Al-Mufti in exchange for the release of detainees Mehdi Bessiso "Abu
Ali" and William Nassar.
1983
Exchange DealIsrael waged a war on Lebanon in 1982 under
the slogan "Operation Peace for Galilee," invading cities, villages,
and camps. Palestinian and Lebanese resistance inflicted losses on the
occupation army, capturing eight Israeli soldiers from the "Nahal"
special forces on September 4, 1982, in the "Bhamdoun" area in Lebanon.
On November 23, 1983, an exchange operation
took place between "Fatah" and the Israeli government, facilitated by
the Red Cross, in the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. Six Israeli soldiers
held by "Fatah" were handed over.
Israel released all detainees from the
"Ansar Camp" in southern Lebanon, who numbered 4,700 Palestinian and
Lebanese detainees. Additionally, 65 prisoners from Israeli prisons were
released, and archives belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization,
seized by Israeli forces during the invasion of Beirut in 1982, were returned.
The total number of prisoners released
exceeded 5,000, with 3,500 choosing to remain in Lebanon, while the rest were
transported to Algeria via French planes through Lod Airport.
During the exchange deal, Israel violated the
agreement by kidnapping about 100 detainees from the "Ansar Camp"
during their transfer from the prison to Lod Airport. Israel kept them and
retained some detainees in other prisons who were part of the exchange deal.
1991
Exchange DealOn June 11, 1982, the General Command captured
Sergeant First Class "Hazi Yishai," an Iraqi Jew, during the Battle
of Sultan Ya'qub while he was leading one of the tanks in an Israeli tank
convoy. Yishai chose a different path, and the tank was hit. He attempted to
escape, but the General Command managed to capture him.
The Red Cross continued communication with the
General Command to reach an agreement. The General Command insisted on knowing
the fate of the missing members of the Palestinian revolution from all its
factions. Israel provided a list of 128 names of prisoners missing in the 1983
deal, who were transferred to Israeli prisons in Palestine.
A new phase of negotiations began, during
which the General Command stipulated that Israel must agree to the number of
prisoners to be released before presenting the list of names. Israel also
committed not to reject any name presented in the list. After tough
negotiations, all demands were agreed upon.
On May 20, 1985, the exchange operation took
place between Israel and the General Command, according to Palestinian
conditions, and this operation was called the "Galilee Operation." It
was one of the most powerful Arab-Israeli exchange deals, where the resistance
gained significant gains in the prisoners' issue. Israel was forced to keep
most released prisoners within the territories occupied in 1967, and the
majority of them had sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years, with some sentenced
to life.
According to the exchange agreement, 1,155
detainees were released from Israeli prisons. The release included 118
prisoners who were kidnapped during the exchange with Fatah in 1983 from the
"Ansar Camp" and 154 prisoners transferred from the same camp to the
"Atlit" prison when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. It
also included 883 detainees originally in Israeli prisons in occupied
Palestine. In return, three Israeli soldiers were released.
Among the released prisoners were 99 from Arab
countries and six from other countries, including the Japanese Kozo Okamoto,
the leader of the Lod Airport operation on May 30, 1972. Israel demanded 100
prisoners in exchange for him, but the offer was rejected, and the General
Command insisted on his release.
The deal also included Palestinians from 1948
territories, prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and among the
released was Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the "Hamas" movement.
2009
"The Free" DealOn June 25, 2006, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, executed a joint military operation with
the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the military arm of the Popular Resistance
Committees in Palestine, and the Army of Islam. The operation, named "The
Vanishing Mirage," involved infiltrating the borders through an
underground tunnel and ambushing Israeli forces.
The operation targeted the support and
protection sites of the Israeli army "Kerem Shalom" on the eastern
border of Rafah city. It resulted in the death of the tank commander and his
assistant, injuring five others, and the destruction of a "Merkava"
tank and an armored personnel carrier. The attackers also captured the soldier
"Gilad Shalit," and they withdrew without being tracked.
To obtain information about the Israeli soldier,
Israel initiated an exchange operation with Hamas through the German mediator
on October 1, 2009, named the "Free Deal." Israel released 20
Palestinian female prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for a
two-minute video showing Shalit in good health.
2011
"Wafaa al-Ahrar" DealDespite years of negotiations through various
mediators between Israel and the Palestinian side to release Shalit, Israel's
extensive efforts were unsuccessful. Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip at
the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, but it did not succeed in locating
the captive soldier.
After more than 5 years spent in captivity,
Israel succumbed to Palestinian demands on October 18, 2011. In a historic
exchange deal named "Wafaa al-Ahrar," brokered by the Egyptian
mediator, Israel released Shalit in exchange for the release of 1,027
Palestinian prisoners. This deal was the largest of its kind in both
Palestinian and Lebanese resistance exchanges.
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