Soccer Dad

Israel makes peace; Palestinians claim it's a publicity stunt

(Gerstman News Service) Today the Israeli army completed its pullback from all of the Palestinian territory Israel occupied in 1967. Palestinian President Marwan Barghouti dismissed the Israeli gesture as a "public relations move designed to draw attention away from Israel's continued occupation of Arab land.

Well, no the above paragraph didn't really happen but it might. "Israel frees 159 prisoners but Palestinians dismiss move as PR gimmick" is a headline from Agence France-Presse today. The Agence France-Presse story explains:

The prisoners, the majority of whom were low-level security detainees approaching the end of their sentences, were released at four checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank and at the Erez terminal crossing into the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) where they had emotional family reunions.

A total of 113 of the inmates were classified as security prisoners but none had taken part in deadly attacks or were deemed to have "blood on their hands". The remainder had been detained for illegally entering Israel.

By calling them "low-level security detainees" AFP minimizes what Israel did. These prisoners were convicts serving terms, not detainees. Additionally their crimes were not trivial. Margot Dudkevitch in the Jersualem Post gives a fuller picture:

Last week the Israel Prison Service published the list of 165 names that were divided into two categories. The first list includes 113 Palestinians who were arrested since the outbreak of the Aksa intifada and primarily charged with membership in a forbidden organization, dealing in weapons, attempted shooting and bomb attacks, preparing bombs, sheltering fugitives and perpetrating stone-throwing and firebomb attacks.

With the exception of membership in a forbidden organization these are all activities that had possibly fatal consequences.
AFP also takes the Palestinian in another measure of the significance of the release:

Issam Abu Kafyeh, an activist for the mainstream Fatah (news - web sites) movement, said he was pleased to be free but pointed out that he had only a year left to serve of a four-and-a-half-year sentence.

"We don't have any feeling of elation because our colleagues are still stuck in prison. The majority of prisoners were due to have finished their sentences in the next few days."

Issam was convicted of membership in a forbidden organization and setting fire to a car. (via IMRA; translated from here.) I guess that arson is a form of activism.
Aside from euphemizing his crime, AFP is accepting his claim, without argument, that Israel's concession isn't that great because many of the prisoners were to be released soon. Except given the recidivism rate in these cases, any reduction in sentences is significant.
Arutz-7 quotes a representative of the Terror Vicitms Association:

Spokesman for the Terror Victims Association Uriah Bachrach denounced the release of the terrorists. He said that the Prime Minister's office categorically stated that the prisoners which would be released in exchange for Azzam Azzam were the 6 Egyptian students who were detained in Israel for terrorist activity and no more.

Bachrach noted, "Contrary to all media reports, this release has nothing to do with Azzam Azzam. It is a 'gesture' that, based on past experience, will cost Israel Jewish blood. In every other release of terrorists who attempted, but were not successful, in murdering Jews, many of the convicts went right back to try again. In essence, the State of Israel is simply granting a second chance to terrorists who missed their target."

"In one case, an Arab who was involved in terrorist activity was released because he was an orphan," Bachrach added. "We argued in court that this man is dangerous, but the court released him. Two days later, he murdered a 3-year-old Jewish girl in Kiryat Arba."

I realize that the TVA has an agenda, but the consequences of previous releases are matters of public record. Couldn't AFP have done a little digging to find out if these releases are as benign and risk free as the freed terrorists claim?
As has consistently been the case the Palestinians are minimizing Israeli concessions. The media are cheerleading. And the Israeli government does nothing to strengthen its case. If the government feels that this release is good, I won't argue with that (even if I disagree) But shouldn't there be a spokesman noting that such early releases are fraught with risk, but Israel is undertaking it in the name of peace. If the government is going to take risks it really ought to make sure it gets full credit and not let Israel's enemies define the value of its concessions.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at December 28, 2004 02:23 AM | TrackBack