2005-02-22-prisoner-conundrum

By Ira Sharkansky

Prominent among the problems that Israel faces is, what to do with the thousands of Palestinian prisoners, many of them with "blood on their hands" as a result of killing Israelis, or being involved in the planning of violence against Israelis.

For the Palestinians, these are fighters being held as prisoners of war, who should be released now that the war is over.

Let's take an intellectual risk and assume that the war is over. We are not there yet. We may not get there, but let's assume it for the sake of argument.

At least some, and perhaps many of these prisoners are impressive individuals. That is apparent from the comments they make when being interviewed on Israeli media. It is also apparent from my conversations with students who have dealt with them while they served as ranking officials in military and civilian prisons.

Among the prisoners are individuals with considerable intelligence as well as dedication to the cause of Palestine. They risked their lives for what they thought were commendable national goals. They represent a human resource that could make an important contribution to the development of Palestine. Many of them have learned Hebrew while in prison. At least some of them have also learned that Israelis are not monsters, but offer values that should be recognized and incorporated into Palestine.

So why not release them?

On the other side is the realization that these individuals used their intelligence to plan or execute acts of violence, usually against civilians. To use a problematic word, they are terrorists. Can we count on them to use their skills and values in order to build a Palestine that will live at peace alongside Israel? Or will they revert to violence at the first feelings of frustration that Palestine is not going well, and accept the easy explanation that Israel is responsible for its failures?

We know from previous experience in releasing prisoners is that some return to violent gangs at the first opportunity. Others are more likely to avoid violence, either because they have matured in Israeli prisons and their inclination to violence has declined naturally with age. Or that they have actually adopted perspectives that are more political than violent.

We must also remember that Israelis have been through the Oslo experience. We would like to believe that Mahmoud Abbas is different from Yasser Arafat, but we are reluctant to accept his assurances, or risk our security for the convenience of European and American politicians who want to be known as having brought peace to the Holy Land. Lest we forgot for a moment, the family members of the dead and injured will remind us.

I have no idea what the outcome will be. Perhaps we will release some prisoners with blood on their hands, but not as many as the Palestinians want, and not all of those on their list of priorities.

This is not simply a problem for conjecture, but is one of the key tests of Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Palestinians will not get everything they want with respect to prisoners. Will they take less than a perfect deal in order not to spoil a good deal? That will tell us if they have learned the ways of politics. If they respond in a political way (for example by seeking benefits on some other issue), we will know how to respond. If they respond by threatening or employing violence, we also know how to respond.

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Sharkansky is a member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem