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by Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly
The crisis of the spread of COVID-19 in Israel and Palestine may prompt Israel and Islamic Hamas movement to go for a prisoner swap deal; however, Palestinian analysts think it's still hard to reach a comprehensive deal in this stage.
Hamas chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar had earlier this week declared an initiative presented to Israel, which included the release of Palestinian elderly, women, patients and children from the Israeli jails in exchange for taking "positive steps."
Then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that Israel was ready to start immediate dialogue with Hamas through a third mediator to get back the Israeli "dead and missing" who had been captive in the Gaza Strip since 2014.
The initiatives of the two sides were made apparently after the number of COVID-19 cases has dramatically increased in Israel over the past a few weeks, while the Palestinians were deeply concerned that the virus may infect more than 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Husam al-Dajjani, a Gaza-based political analyst, told Xinhua that the release of elderly, women, patients and children from the Israeli jails "is not an impossible and hard demand that Netanyahu can start with to prompt the release of Israelis who have been captive in the Gaza Strip for six years."
"If Netanyahu gets accurate data on the fate of the soldiers who are held in the Gaza Strip after the release of Palestinians from the Israeli jails, I think this will give him more power to reach an exchange deal that will boost his political future," said al-Dajjani.
He also said that the presented initiative "will also help Hamas get local, Arab and international benefits."
Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas said in an official statement that its politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh told Mikhail Bogdanov, the special envoy of Russia to the Middle East and Africa, on telephone that Hamas insists on the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails throughout an exchange deal with Israel.
Hamas movement spokesman in Gaza Hazem Qassem said on Tuesday that "the ball is now in Israel's field" with regards to the issue of negotiating a prisoner swap deal.
Hamas declared two years ago that it has held two Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians in captivity, without revealing any information about their fate, while Israel said the two soldiers were dead.
The last prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel was held in 2011, brokered by Egypt, and set free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Amid the spread of COVID-19 in Israel, the Palestinians call on Israel to release more than 5,000 prisoners from its jails, especially the elderly, women, patients and children prisoners.
Abdulnasser Ferwana, a Gaza-based expert in prisoner affairs, told Xinhua that Hamas' initiative of moving up the prisoner issue in this stage is carrying humanitarian dimensions amid a growing concern over the safety of the prisoners, mainly the elderly and patients.
"Hamas' initiative may lead to an important breakthrough in reaching partial understandings that can be an introduction for reaching a comprehensive agreement that includes prisoner exchange and a long-term truce," said Ferwana.
However, he ruled out that Israel is serious and ready to pay the price of reaching a prisoner exchange deal that meets the Palestinian demands, adding that "Israel will try to make the price cheaper by linking the file of the captive Israelis with other files."
Adnan Abu A'amer, the political science professor at al-Ommah University in Gaza, told Xinhua that the crisis of the virus' spread in Israel and Palestine "was the main reason behind sparking a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas."
"Reaching understandings in the file of exchanging prisoners can initially begin with the release of two captive Israeli civilians for providing more humanitarian aid to Gaza populations," added Abu A'amer.
