As the deal with Hezbullah nears completion, Associated Press released a list of some previous Israeli-Arab prisoner exchanges. The article begins with this line:
Israel has carried out many prisoner swaps with Arab countries since declaring independence in 1948, almost always giving more prisoners and bodies than it got in return.
‘Almost always’? Not one exchange deal listed there was anywhere near even.
For a fuller list of Israeli-Arab prisoner exchanges, click here:
PRISONER EXCHANGE/RELEASE INVOLVING ISRAEL (Non-exhaustive)
Jan 20, 1957 – Israel and Egypt agree on an exchange of prisoners: ….the only Israeli POW taken during the fighting [1956 Suez Campaign] and three Israeli soldiers taken prisoner previously are exchanged for thousands of Egyptian prisoners
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 336
June 27, 1967 – In a POW exchange with Jordan, Israel exchanges 428 Jordanian soldiers for two Israeli pilots held by Iraq
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 384
July 17, 1967 – Israel exchanges 591 Syrian POWs for two Israelis held by Syria
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 385
Jan 23, 1968 – Israel and Egypt complete their POW exchange: 4500 Egyptians for 10 Israelis including the Mishap prisoners.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 394
Feb 28, 1971 – Shmuel Rosenwasser, the guard kidnapped from Metula in January 1970, is returned in exchange for Mahmud Hejazi, a terrorist sentenced by Israel to death and resentenced to 30 years in prison in light of the nonimplementation of the death penalty in Israel.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 415
June 03 1973 – In a POW exchange with Syria, three Israeli pilots are released in exchange for 46 Syrian soldiers and officers.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 415
Nov 15, 1973 – POW exchanges between Israel and Egypt. Israel returns over 8000 prisoners and receives 233 including nine who were taken captive during the war of Attrition.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 423
June 01, 1974 – A POW exchange with Syria begins: 65 Israeli soldiers are returned in exchange for 408 Syrians.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 449
Apr 04, 1975 – Egypt returns the bodies of 39 soldiers missing since the Yom Kippur War. In return Israel releases “seurity prisoners”
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, p 454
Mar 14, 1979 – Israel releases 76 Palestinian terrorists in return for the soldier Avraham Amram
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 471
Nov 23, 1983 – All Arab prisoners in the Ansar prison camp in Lebanon, and an additional 99 held in Israel, making a total of 4600, are exchanged for 6 Israeli POWs. Dissatisifaction is widespread in Israel over the disproportionate exchange and the fact that not all the POWs were returned.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 499
Jan 28, 1984 – In a POW exchange with Syria, over 300 Syrian prisoners ar exchanged for 3 Israeli soldiers, 3 civilians and 2 bodies of Israeli officers killed in the Lebanon War.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 504
Apr 02, 1985 – Israel releases 752 Shiite Moslems from Ansar prison and transfers 1200 to Atlit, Israel in what the Red Cross charges is a violation of the Geneva Convention
‘Land of Promise, Land of strife’ Wesley G Pippert, pg 248
May 20 1985 – Israel releases 1150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 3 Israeli soldiers held by Ahmed Jibri’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The move is criticized in Israel. Hundreds demonstrate outside Prime Minister’s Peres residence. [Yithzak] Shamir demands that the Jewish underground prisoners be pardoned.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 509
Jan 09, 1996 – Some 800 Palestinian security prisoners, including 400 members of Hamas, are released from prisons in Israel as part of the Oslo 2 agreement.
The Twentieth Century In Eretz Israel by Mordecai Naor, pg 590
Sept 09, 1999 – Israel releases 199 Palestinian prisoners under Sharm el-Sheikh accord signed 9/4/99.
National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism -Terrorism Incidents & Significant Dates
http://www.mipt.org/…
June 03 2003 – A convicted terrorist is among the 100 Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of the confidence-building gestures Israel has agreed to make to the Palestinian Authority.
Fatah member Ahmed Jbarra Abu Sukkar, 68, has served 28 years of a life sentence for his involvement in the refrigerator bomb attack in Jerusalem’s Kikar Zion in July 1975 in which 14 were murdered and more than 60 wounded.
Israel to free 100 security prisoners by Margot Dudkevitch JPost.com Jun. 2, 2003
http://www.jpost.com…
Aug 2003 – ……..release of security prisoners carried out by Israel in the framework of faith building measures to the Palestinian Authority in August when a total of 442 Palestinian prisoners were freed to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Shin Bet compiles list of 400 for prisoner exchange By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH JPost.com Nov. 5, 2003
http://www.jpost.com…
Nov 25, 2003 – As a gesture to Jordan and those celebrating the Moslem Eid al Fitr holiday, Israel released ten Jordanians incarcerated in Israel, none were said to have blood on their hands.
Jordanian State Minister Asma Khader criticised the release saying it was insufficient and demanded that Israel release fifty.
The majority were sentenced for entering Israel illegally, one of the prisoners incarcerated in a military prison was involved in terrorist activities and of the five released by the Prison Authority, two had been punished for security violations that included entering Israel illegally, belonging to an enemy organization and dealing in weapons.
The last time Israel released Jordanian prisoners was in 1999, when five were released as a good will measure to King Hussein.
excerpts from, Israel releases 10 Jordanian prisoners By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH JPost.com Nov 25, 2003
http://www.jpost.com…
(From LGF comments)
