Second stage of Israel-Hamas prisoner swap underway

Dec 18, 2011, 19:07 GMT

Tel Aviv - The second stage of an Israel-Hamas prisoner swap got underway Sunday evening, as 550 Palestinian prisoners slated to be released were taken in buses from a jail in central Israel to crossing points into Palestinian territory and Jordan.

The prisoners are scheduled to begin crossing over at 2000 GMT.

Modest preparations were underway in Ramallah in the central West Bank, where the vast majority of the prisoners were to be dropped off, and in Gaza, the home of 41 of the 550.

Two others, from Jordan, were to cross the border with Israel's eastern neighbour via the Allenby Bridge over the River Jordan. Two others were from East Jerusalem.

Hours before the release got underway, hundreds of Palestinian clashed with Israeli soldiers at a central West Bank checkpoint. They were among the crowd gathered at Beitunia, south-west of Ramallah, anxiously awaiting their relatives who are being freed.

Tempers ran high and, when youths began pushing the nearby security fence and throwing rocks, soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said some of the protesters also threw firebombs.

Several were injured after inhaling tear gas.

Israel Prison Service (IPS) spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said that 55 of those to be freed Sunday were minors, aged between 14 and 17, having apparently been held for up to 18 months for throwing stones and firebombs.

The prisoners included six women, the IPS said.

In the first stage, carried out on October 18, Israel released 477 Palestinian militants, many serving multiple life sentences, in return for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage for more than five years by the Islamist movement, which rules Gaza.

None of the prisoners scheduled to be released is serving a life term. Most are members of the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Many were sentenced for attacks that caused no major casualties.

Under the Egyptian-mediated deal, Hamas hand-picked many of the names freed in the first stage, while Israel decided who to release in the second wave. Ahead of the exchange, all 550 prisoners had already been moved to two central facilities on Thursday, one near Tel Aviv and another at a military base outside Ramallah.

Because of the late hour of the release, no immediate mass celebrations were planned in the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas had welcomed the first wave with a huge reception in a Gaza City park. However, the second wave includes no members of the Islamist movement, residents said.

Families had driven to Ramallah from other cities across the West Bank, waiting anxiously for the arrival of their relatives.

Israel's Highest Court of Justice late Saturday rejected petitions against the release, filed by relatives of Israelis killed in attacks by Palestinian militants, Israel Radio reported.

The court ruled that the issue had political and security ramifications and therefore was a government decision in which it would not intervene.

A military spokeswoman, asked by dpa, said 330 Palestinians had been arrested on security-related charges since October 18, but roughly as many had gone free.

Some 4,250 Palestinians will remain in Israeli prisons for security-related offences, the IPS said. That is down from almost 5,300 before the Shalit deal.