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Netanyahu: Israel Prepared to Release 1,000 Palestinian Terrorists in Exchange for Gilad Shalit
(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Prime Minister Netanyahu said Thursday: "Four years have passed since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped and the people of Israel are united in their desire to see him return safe and sound to his family, to his home, to his country." "The State of Israel has always been prepared to pay a heavy price for the release of its hostages. I know this price firsthand. I lost my brother Yoni, of blessed memory, during the operation to free the hostages of the Air France airplane in Entebbe." "The State of Israel did not hesitate to endanger its finest sons to rescue its prisoners and hostages." "In other circumstances, the State of Israel decided on several occasions to release terrorists and murderers in exchange for releasing Israelis. The most famous deal was the Jibril deal of 1985, in the framework of which 1,150 terrorists were released. Almost half of them returned to engage in terror and to murder dozens of Israelis at their own hands. Moreover, those released in the Jibril deal constituted the solid nucleus of the leadership of the first intifada, during which hundreds of Israelis lost their lives in suicide and terror attacks." "There were more instances, for instance, the Tannenbaum deal in January 2004, in the framework of which 400 terrorists were released....Those released in the Tannenbaum deal murdered 27 Israelis." "The German mediator's proposal that we decided to accept requires the release of 1,000 terrorists....However, there are prices that I am not prepared to pay that are not included in the proposed deal." "The first principle is that dangerous terrorists will not return to the areas of Judea and Samaria where they will be able to continue harming Israeli citizens....I am not prepared to return to policies that with the test of time led to the murder of dozens of Israelis." "The second principle is to prevent the release of mass murderers, because upon leaving jail they will vastly strengthen the Hamas leadership and greatly inspire new waves of terror. We are referring to arch-murderers who planned and carried out the most shocking and horrendous terror attacks in which an extremely large number of innocent Israeli citizens were murdered."