Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who has been imprisoned by Hamas since 2006, was released on Tuesday in Egypt as part of a prisoner trade between Israel and Hamas. In exchange for Shalit’s release, Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, the first group of what will be more than 1,000. The deal is seen as a major political victory for Hamas, which Israel considers to be a terrorist organization. “I very much hope that this deal will advance peace,” Shalit told Egyptian television before he was released. Many Israelis support the swap, but Arnold Roth, who was on The Takeaway yesterday, does not. Roth lost his daughter in 2001 to a Palestinian suicide bomber. The woman who drove that bomber is one of the 477 set to be released today. Khaled Hroub, director of Cambridge Arab Media Project at the University of Cambridge, and author of “Hamas: Political Thought and Practice” and “Hamas: A Beginners Guide,” is a Palestinian, and reacts to the swap.
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