Imminent Prisoner Exchange

According to media reports, Israel and Hamas are about to announce a joint prisoner exchange.  Israel will release hundreds of Palestinians in exchange for Corporal Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Hamas since the summer of 2006.

It is the kind of situation hard for an American to fathom, but, for better or for worse, Israeli politics have been turned upside down over the fate of this one soldier.  Prime Minister Netanyahu has been under constant pressure to free Shalit at almost any cost, just as his predecessor Ehud Olmert was.

But Shalit's release, when it occurs, will upturn policy even more than his captivity roiled politics.  An Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas will accord Hamas a kind of de facto recognition. It raises the question of why can't Israel engage in diplomatic negotiatiations with Hamas if it can (and does) negotiate a prisoner exchange with them? Israel has long upheld the principle of not negotiating with terrorists. Is Hamas no longer a terrorist group? Or is Israel conceding that these labels are less than helpful?

How will an exchange with Hamas affect Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority?  They don't kidnap Israeli soldiers or engage in violence against Israel.  Nor does Israel release prisoners to them.  Is Israel sending a signal that violence is the only approach that produces results?

Hopefully, Israel will release prisoners to the Palestinian Authority as well.  Otherwise, considering all the other insults directed at the Palestinian Authority and President Abbas by the United States and Israel, this prisoner release could spell the end of the PA if Palestinians conclude that Hamas is the only Palestinian organization that delivers.  

Additionally, one has to ask, will a massive prisoner release in exchange for one soldier simply encourage more kidnappings?

It will be good news if and when Shalit is freed.  But it is not hard to see that his freedom may be coming at a very steep price for Israel.  

Israel deserves credit for caring so deeply about one soldier.  Maybe the lesson for us here is that we should show our forces just as much care, something we have not done over the past decade.