Palestinian prisoners: A history of key exchanges with the Israeli occupation

Ahram Online , Saturday 18 Jan 2025

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs have reviewed the most prominent prisoner exchange operations with the Israeli occupation following the approval of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as reported by WAFA news agency.

Ramallah
File Photo: A Palestinian prisoner, right, hugs a relative after detainees were released from Israeli jails and returned to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. AFP

 

They highlighted that exchange operations with the Israeli occupation began in the Arab world after the Nakba in 1948, preceding the involvement of Palestinian organizations and factions. Early exchanges involved Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Jordanian, and Lebanese detainees.

The most recent exchange operation, in November 2023, a month after the start of the Israeli genocidal war oo Gaza, saw the release of 240 Palestinians detainees, including 71 women and 169 children, as part of a truce agreement.

A total of 40 documented exchanges and deals have been recorded. Key Palestinian exchanges include the following:

  • July 23, 1968: The first exchange between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli occupation occurred after resistance fighters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an Israeli El Al plane. Through the International Red Cross, passengers were released in exchange for 37 Palestinian detainees with long sentences, including those captured before 1967.

  • January 28, 1971: Fatah secured the release of Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, the first Palestinian prisoner of the contemporary Palestinian revolution, in exchange for an Israeli soldier, Shmuel Fayez, who had been captured in 1969. The exchange took place in Ras Al-Naqoura under Red Cross auspices.

  • March 14, 1979: Dubbed the "Litani exchange operation," the Popular Front – General Command exchanged an Israeli soldier captured in the Litani operation for 76 Palestinian detainees, including 12 women.

  • November 23, 1983: Fatah negotiated the release of all detainees from Israel's Ansar prison in southern Lebanon, totaling 4,700 Palestinian and Lebanese detainees, alongside 65 prisoners from other Israeli prisons, in exchange for six Israeli soldiers.

  • May 20, 1985: Known as "Operation Galilee," the Popular Front – General Command secured the release of 1,155 prisoners from Israeli prisons, including detainees from occupied territories and southern Lebanon, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers.

  • October 1, 2009: Israel released 20 Palestinian women prisoners in exchange for a video proving the well-being of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian factions in Gaza in 2006.

    Palestinian former prisoner Bara Malki sits between her parents with national flags in the background on the balcony of their home in the West Bank refugee camp of Jalazon, north of Ramallah. AFP
     

  • October 18, 2011: The "Wafa al-Ahrar" deal saw Palestinian factions release Shalit in exchange for 1,027 prisoners, including 33 women. Some prisoners were deported to Gaza or abroad.

    File Photo: Palestinian prisoners cross to the southern Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border following their release from Israeli prisons. AFP
     

  • November 22, 2023: A humanitarian truce led to the release of 240 detainees, including 169 children and 71 women, over seven days, in exchange for 50 Israeli war prisoners held by resistance factions in Gaza.

    File Photo: A Palestinian prisoner hugs his mother after being released from an Israeli jail in exchange for Israeli released by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. AFP

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