| palwatch.org In October 2011, Israel released 1027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prison in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years. Following the deal, Palestinian Authority TV broadcast an interview with PA Chairman Abbas in which he calls Shalit's kidnapping "a good thing" because it succeeded in freeing Palestinian prisoners. Promoting kidnapping as a means to free Palestinian terrorist prisoners is a mainstay of PA policy, as exemplified in this clip. Transcript: Interviewer: "Don't you think that it was the resistance which succeeded in freeing 1000 prisoners? Negotiations must always be accompanied by a measure of force; there is no negotiation without resistance - that's the experience of the nations, of Ireland and all countries." Abbas: "Correct, but for us the conditions are different. Military resistance - we are unable. Hamas kidnapped a soldier, or captured a soldier, and managed to keep him for 5 years - that's a good thing, we don't deny it. On the contrary, it's good. Because in that small strip of 40 x 7 km [Gaza], they managed to guard him and hide him - that's a good thing. But that's not called resistance. In the end, a soldier was captured and we paid a heavy price: the invasion of Gaza, 1500 casualties. We paid, but let's put that aside. If we're talking about [freeing] prisoners then it succeeded. There is no military resistance - neither we nor, by the way, Hamas - neither we nor Hamas ... |
