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Preparations for prisoner swap deal between Hamas, Israel underway

17 October 2011 18:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.Islamic Hamas movement and Israeli officials announced on Monday that they had advanced preparations for the implementation of an Egyptian-brokered prisoner exchange deal reached between the two sides last week, due on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Hundreds of young Hamas supporters wearing green caps spread in the streets of Gaza City, painting the walls of the prisoners’ homes, writing colorful welcoming graffiti and hanging green Hamas flags and Palestinian flags in the main streets and roads.

Last week, Israeli officials and Hamas leaders announced that they had reached an agreement on the release of 1,027 prisoners in exchange for the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been in a Gaza captivity since June 2006. He was abducted in a cross-border raid southeast of Gaza.

According to Hamas officials, the deal will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be on Tuesday, where Israel would free 450 male and 27 female prisoners, and after two months, another 550 prisoners will be released in coordination with Egypt.

A total of 293 prisoners will arrive in Gaza on Tuesday, including 163 from the West Bank and agreed to be deported to the Gaza Strip and 130 Gaza Strip residents. The 293 prisoners will be officially received by the Hamas government and leaders of other factions.

According to Hamas sources, the reception of the freed prisoners to Gaza will start on Tuesday at the gate of Rafah crossing point on the borders between Gaza Strip and Egypt, and then the prisoners will be brought to Gaza City by buses to al- Katiba yard.

Al-Katiba yard is a large green park, used for holding big rallies for various Palestinian factions. A popular reception will be made at the green yard, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are expected to attend and the deposed premier of Hamas rule Ismail Haneya will attend the rally as well.

A large podium was built up on the green yard and the place was decorated with green Hamas and Palestinian flags, in addition to banners and graffiti welcoming and praising the freed prisoners. " Shalit won’t see the light before our prisoners do ... We promised and we are sincere."

Hamas supporters and activists set up a tent in front of the house of each freed prisoner as a place for celebration.

Meanwhile, several families of West Bank prisoners arrived on Monday in the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing coming from the West Bank through Jordan. They arrived in Gaza to receive their children they haven’t seen for at least two decades.

Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank, said in a press statement that all the Palestinian factions joined the preparations for the release of the prisoners at Offer Crossing near Ramallah in the West Bank and then a popular ceremony will be held in the city.

The prisoners will be brought to the yard of al-Muqata’a, the headquarters of Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The freed prisoners will visit the grave of late leader Yasser Arafat.

Hamas still kept in secret how to hand Shalit to Egypt and then to Israel. It said that Shalit will be handed over to the Egyptians the moment the Palestinian prisoners are handed to the Palestinian side.

It is still unclear whether Hamas will hand over Shalit in Sinai or at Rafah borders crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt. The matter will remain unclear until the moment Shalit appears. The IPS on Monday gathered dozens of Palestinian prisoners from several jails to prepare for the exchange process.

Israeli Radio quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that the prisoners were gathered and placed in two major jails, the Katze’ot in southern Israel and Hasharon in central Israel.

"The prisoners in Katze’ot will be moved to the Gaza Strip and those in Hasharon will be moved to the West Bank," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Israeli Radio.

The official added that "after the prisoners are moved to those prisons, they will receive medical examinations and their IDs will be checked by the prison management in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross."