The terms of the agreement with Hamas in Israel are always presented as a "painful price". It is assumed that everything that is good for Hamas is not good for Israel, and that everything that is bad for the Palestinians is good for us. There is always a zero-sum game on the table (if one wins, the other loses). Israel has convinced itself that it must not sign an agreement that could be even slightly favorable to Hamas, because that would mean it is bad for the country. The price would even be painful. We should be suspicious of this assumption. There are good elements in the agreement for both Hamas and Israel. "Cost" isn't always a price, and it doesn't always hurt like we tend to think.
It would be good for Hamas to release the Palestinian prisoners and end the war. But maybe it could be good for Israel too. In any case, the alternative will be much worse. Hamas will not unconditionally release abductees, just as Israel will never release prisoners without compensation, although it has had thousands of them over the years, even today. Israel has taught the Palestinians that early release is possible only through an agreement on the exchange of prisoners and abductees. There are abductees on both sides: a large number of Palestinians were abducted by the army right from their beds, without even reaching the court.
Israeli prisons are full of so-called security prisoners who are not all "terrorists with bloody hands", as they are represented by the propaganda media. Many are political prisoners of the regime that forbids any organization of Palestinians, and among them there are those who have been sentenced to draconian punishments for trivial matters. If there is still a need to prove the existence of Israeli apartheid, it is very easy to do so by pointing to the separate judicial system for Jews and Palestinians. There are also despicable Palestinian murderers in prison: most of them have been there for decades, and even they deserve to be freed one day, just like their Jewish counterparts. Freeing veterans of armed struggle will not harm Israel.
There are those whose release would even bring benefits to Israel, among whom Marvan Barghouti stands out*, but there are others as well. If Israel is genuinely interested in a partner who would create change in the reality of endless wars, such a partner is in an Israeli prison. The Palestinian leadership is divided between the Megiddo and Nafha prison units. Every liberation struggle, including that of the Jewish people, created brave leaders who came out of the prison of the occupiers. There will be grieving Jewish families who lost their loved ones many years ago and who will not want to see their murderers go free, but other murderers are also being released from prison. These families cannot determine what is good for Israel.
The smartest step that Israel should and had to take a long time ago is the immediate release of the prisoners, but not as a form of surrender in negotiations. There's no way that's going to happen, it's too reasonable. The release of 1.500 prisoners, as demanded by Hamas, is not a disaster and does not hurt. This will lead to the release of the kidnapped. Disaster will only happen if they do not return.
It is not a disaster or a pain to stop this cursed war in which Israel has lost its humanity, without achieving any of the dramatic success it expected from the indiscriminate killing and destruction that can only be found in the brutalities of war. Israel's honor will indeed be tarnished, Hamas will be crowned the winner of the war, a dubious but victorious one nonetheless. As such, he was already crowned on October 7. Even if Netanyahu's "absolute victory" is achieved, which of course will never happen, Hamas has won the war. That is why it is better to end the war immediately.
We should put aside all the clichés and slogans that insult the Israelis and evaluate with a cool head: would this agreement really be bad? What makes it bad? Can anyone get out of it well?
(Haaetz; Peščanik.net; translation from Hebrew: Alma Ferhat)
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* Many in Israel believe that if there is any intention to start a peace process with the Palestinians, Barghouti's release should be separate from the deal with Hamas. In this way, upon his release from prison, he would preserve his independent position and would not be forced to cooperate with the organization.
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