ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE chiefs say the prisoner swap agreed with Hamas is the best deal Israel could have got, even though the deal will boost Hamas.
Intelligence chiefs gave prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu the green light before he put the deal to the cabinet and told him the army will be able to cope with the 1,027 militants who are being released in return for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli sergeant who was kidnapped on the Gaza border more than five years ago.
Yoram Cohen, head of the Israel Security Agency, said the deal became possible after Hamas compromised on a number of key demands in recent months. Israel refused to release a number of senior militant leaders and insisted that 203 West Bank detainees being set free will not be allowed to return home – 40 will be sent abroad and the rest will be exiled to Gaza. Israel also refused a key Hamas demand to promise not to target in the future the militants being set free.
Sgt Shalit is expected to return to Israel next week after Israel releases the first batch of 450 militants and 27 women detainees.
Most Israelis support the prisoner swap, but Uzi Landau, one of three ministers who voted against the deal, warned that it provided “incentive to kill Israelis and to carry out further abductions”.