BARRY RUBIN CLEARS UP A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT SHALIT DEAL

Barry Rubin has written about prisoner exchange deal for getting Gilad Shalit returned, noting that:

There are some substantial misunderstandings on the nature of the Gilad Shalit exchange deal. I should stress that the list of those Palestinian prisoners being given in exchange for him has not yet been released. But note the following:

–The number 1000 is impressive but most will be chosen by Israel, meaning they will be prisoners with the lightest sentences and crimes — in other words, people who would have been released anyway during the next year or two.

–Israel rejected Hamas’s demand to release those being called “arch-terrorists” who were major organizers of attacks or responsible for a larger loss of life.

Yet this is why any deal made might not go through, if Hamas wants the bloodiest barbarians kept in Israeli prisons. Hamas themselves have been making unconfirmed claims of who's to be set free, and only showing their true colors in the process.

That said, this was a rather predictably divisive action within Israel itself, as families of terror victims were angry at the news. If the US doesn't negotiate with terrorists, why should Israel?