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October 18, 2011 Special Dispatch No. 4212

Following the Shalit Deal - Hamas-Affiliated Columnists: There Will Be More Abductions; Fatah-Affiliated Website: Shalit a Monster Who Carried On the Legacy of His Ancestors, the Apes and Pigs; Al-Ahram: No to Further Abductions

October 18, 2011
Palestinians, Egypt | Special Dispatch No. 4212

Following the signing of the deal in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was to be exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, many articles on Hamas-affiliated websites called the deal a victory and stated that it proved the effectiveness of the strategy of resistance. They urged to kidnap more Israeli soldiers in order to liberate the remaining Palestinian prisoners.

A website affiliated with Fatah published a venomous article about Shalit which described him as a murderer and a monster who "carried on the legacy of his fathers, the apes and pigs."

On the other hand, an editorial in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram called on the Palestinians to honor the deal and its positive outcomes, but to refrain from urging and engaging in further abductions. It called on Israel to honor the deal as well, and to refrain from re-arresting the liberated prisoners or seeking retribution against them.[1]

Fatah-Affiliated Website: Shalit Spent His Time in Bars and Brothels, and Engaged in Robbery, Murder, and Rape

An article published on a Fatah-affiliated website, by journalist Sami Foda, stated: "[Gilad Shalit is] a young man who spent his time in bars and brothels, playing games and pampering himself. He enjoyed the pleasures of a land not his own. He went around robbing, stealing, torching, raping, trampling, and desecrating the soil of this land that is not his own. He viciously strove to shed the blood of the martyrs, killed innocent people, shelled the homes of innocent people with tanks, destroying them without shame, mercy, or pangs of conscience, a stupid murderer who did not mind killing our elderly, our men, our youth, and our women, and even our poor children, [so] pure and innocent.

"This soldier was a waif born in a shelter as a result of the deterioration and disintegration of Israeli society. A Zionist soldier, he became seeped with Zionism to the bone... [He is] a gullible [boy], the genetic grandson of the Zionist leaders by virtue of his affiliation with, and loyalty to, his Nazi leaders. This monster joined the army of Zionist gangs, to carry on the legacy of his fathers, the apes and pigs of the Haganah, Irgun, Stern, and Palmach organizations, in order to carry out the orders of his fascist masters. That was the Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit, 19 years-old when he was captured by the Palestinian resistance.

"This incompetent soldier became the most prized soldier in all the armies of the world. He entered the annals of history through the widest gate, and his name went down in the Guinness Book of World Records... The world was in turmoil as the Arab leaders, the West, and the monstrous mini-state [Israel] waged a five-year publicity and marketing campaign throughout the world in an attempt to liberate the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit... He was a focus of interest for journalists and political and military analysts in all the electronic and printed media, while the conscience of those flaccid leaders remained unmoved by the [plight of] our courageous heroes and glorious prisoners hidden away in the dungeons of the enemy's strongholds."[2]

Hamas Official: Goodbye Shalit, Hello New Prisoner

In an article posted on the website of Al-Aqsa TV, Dr. Mustafa Yousef Al-Liddawi, formerly Hamas's representative in Syria and Lebanon, expressed hopes that more Israeli soldiers would be abducted to replace Shalit: "Today, as we say goodbye to Shalit, we hope to welcome [back] all our prisoners, to free all our prisoners, to end their period of incarceration in the [jails] of the occupation, and to prevent the arrest of many others and the return [of the freed prisoners] to the shackles of captivity. As we say goodbye to Shalit, we hope to welcome a new guest, to capture a new soldier, to hurt the enemy in a way that will humiliate and distress him, to pull his soldiers from their tanks and even shoot down their planes, to destroy their vehicles and to lead them, handcuffed, to our jails. This, in order to... liberate those whom the enemy is [still] holding in his prisons and whom he refuses to free because they have shed his blood, humiliated him, killed the best of his soldiers, rubbed the noses of his crack units in the dirt, and forced his leaders to surrender and accept their terms. Goodbye, Shalit, and hello to the new prisoner who will replace you and by means of whom we will humiliate your army and your leadership. We will not surrender, give up or disdain [our duty] until we get back the last of our prisoners and destroy the last of the detention facilities that the enemy has constructed on our own soil..."[3]

Hamas Columnists: Shalit Will Not Be the Last Hostage

Many writers affiliated with Hamas likewise called to abduct more Israeli soldiers, stating that the Shalit deal will not be the last and that it has proved the efficacy of the path of resistance.

Iyad Al-Qara, a columnist for the Hamas-affiliated daily Falastin, wrote: "After the imminent completion of the 'Loyalty to the Free' deal [Hamas's name for the Shalit deal], the resistance will be able to stage further attacks... and repeat 'Operation Fading Illusion' [Hamas's name for Shalit's abduction] so as to capture more soldiers or settlers in order to liberate all the prisoners from the jails of the occupation. This [is an effective strategy], especially considering that any new abduction will be carried out and completed swiftly, because the [present] deal has laid down the framework for negotiating with the occupation for the liberation of all [our] prisoners from its jails."

Falastin columnist Hisham Munawwar wrote: "The 'Loyalty to the Free' deal, in which the largest number of Palestinian prisoners ever to be exchanged for a single soldier will be liberated from the prisons of the occupation, is not the first [deal] in the history of the exchange deals, and, as the resistance factions have promised, it will not be the last, Allah willing, until every Palestinian prisoner has been liberated... This deal proves that resistance is the only way to restore the Palestinian rights and liberate the prisoners..."[4]

Kamal Jaber wrote on a Hamas-affiliated website: "True, Gilad had many friends who trod the same path before him, and underwent the same experience at the hands of the Al-Qassam [Brigades]: Avi Sasportas, Ilan Sa'adon, Nissim Toledano, Yaron Chen, Sharon Edri, and many others. Each one of them tried to write the winning chapter in the story of Al-Qassam, but Shalit had the tremendous fortune [to be the one who got] to tell this magnificent tale. Bless the Al-Qassam [Brigades]. May the heroic prisoners enjoy [their freedom], and may we have a new Shalit every year."[5]

Journalist Tamer Al-Sharif wrote in his column in Falastin: "This deal will not be the last, and will spark much activity and intense competition among the Palestinian factions, [each of them] trying to repeat it."[6]

Article in Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Daily: Hamas Must Capture a New Hostage

Jamal Al-Shawahin, a regular columnist for Al-Sabil, the daily of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, wrote: "The Hamas movement must secure a new prisoner in order to free additional [Palestinian] prisoners from the jails of the occupation, because those who will not be released as part of the Shalit deal now feel and understand that their salvation depends on [the capture of] a new prisoner. This great national duty must be fulfilled, if not by Hamas then by any other organization...

"The latest [prisoner] exchange deal was great and magnificent... a victory for the Hamas movement and the entire Palestinian people. It confirms that continuing the resistance is the [right] path and option [to take] until the Palestinian rights are restored in full, without exception...

"The freed prisoners will be birds of freedom and torches to light the fire of resistance, and they are the incontrovertible proof that the Palestinian right[s] will only be restored through resistance..."[7]

Endnotes:

[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), October 16, 2011.

[2] Alaahd.com, October 16, 2011.

[3] Aqsatv.ps, October 16, 2011.

[4] Falastin (Gaza), October 15, 2011.

[5] Palestine-info.info, October 13, 2011.

[6] Falastin (Gaza), October 14, 2011.

[7] Al-Sabil (Jordan), October 14, 2011.

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