Browse content similar to 18/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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You're watching GMT on BBC World news. We've seen Binyamin Netanyahu, | :00:17. | :00:24. | |
the Israel leader speaking, about the release of Gilad Shalit, the | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
Israeli prisoner, who has been released in scaiping for 1,000 | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
Palestinian prisoners. -- exchange. Welcome to this | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
special edition of GMT. I'm Naga Munchetty. We welcome our viewers | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
in the UK toe our extended coverage of events in the Middle East, where | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been released from Hamas captivity | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
and reunited with his family. And I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy. The | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been released and is now on Israeli | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
soil. He'd been held captive in Gaza for more than five years. His | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
release is in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
TransI always believed that the day will come when I will find myself | :01:10. | :01:20. | |
:01:20. | :01:39. | ||
It's lunchtime in London, 7.30am in New York and 1.30pm in the | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
Palestinian territories and Israel, and this is where Gilad Shalit, the | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
young soldier kidnapped by Hamas in a cross-border raid five years ago | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
has just made his way home. He was released in exchange for more than | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
a thousand Palestinian prisoners. The first few hundred of those have | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
already been welcomed back do Gaza and ram la. We'll bring you full | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
story of this remarkable day. We'll be live at the Israeli air base, | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
but first this report from Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. | :02:11. | :02:21. | |
:02:21. | :02:22. | ||
This fleeting glimps the first the outside world has seen of Shalit in | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
more than five years. The young Israeli soldier looks tired and | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
thin and had trouble speaking. Obviously I missed my family a lot | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
and my friends, and I missed might normal people to talk to, to tell | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
them about my experiences through captive. Very a lot to do when I'm | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
free. In Gaza City huge crowds gathered from early this morning to | :02:45. | :02:52. | |
welcome back the Palestinian prisoners. Buses loaded with some | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
of the 477 Palestinians wait for the swap to begin. Some of these | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
prisoners were serving multiple life sentences, convicted of taking | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
part in murders and bombings of civilian targets inside Israel. | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
Some now will be allowed to stay in Gaza. But a few, those Israel | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
considers most dangerous, are being sent into exile A village in the | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
far north of Israel Gilad Shalit's family are told it is time to go. | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
Finally they are on their way to meet their son. This is what we've | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
all been waiting for today, this is the helicopter carrying Gilad | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
Shalit back from the Egyptian border back to be reunited with his | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
family at the Tel Nof air base. That will end a five-year trauma | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
for him and his family, and close an open wound for millions of | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
Israelis who send their sons and daughters to the military and live | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
in fear of something similar happening to them Gaza there is | :03:56. | :04:02. | |
real joy at the return of hundreds of men and a few women who've spent | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
years or decades in Israeli prisons. Their release will not bring an end | :04:07. | :04:17. | |
:04:17. | :04:22. | ||
to that conflict which has gone on for more than 60 years. | :04:22. | :04:29. | |
Let's speak now to Arnold Roth, whose 15-year-old daughter Malka | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
was killed ten years ago, when a pizzeria was blown up in Jerusalem. | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
The woman who drove the bomb tore the location is being released | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
today. Of course, this is going to spark high emotions among this | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
gentleman, Arnold Roth will be speaking to us from our Jerusalem | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
studio. Can you hear me? Yes, I can, thank you. Thank you for joining me | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
today. This is a highly emotional day for you, I imagine. How do you | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
and your family feel today about the events? There's a considerable | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
amount of emotional turmoil watching the prisoners go free, and | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
in particular knowing that our daughter's murderer, who was | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
sentenced to 16 life terms and has been in jail for 8 years saying the | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
whole time she is going to go free is going to go free today. She's | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
never regretted anything she did, so the feeling today is awful. | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
heard Binyamin Netanyahu justifying and explaining the process of this | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
deal and how he arrived at the conclusion that this is a | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
reasonable deal - 1 Israeli soldier for 1,000 Palestinians. Have you | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
heard his reasoning? Yes, I have heard the reasoning before and I | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
think you would probably have to be a politician to be able to come to | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
terms with that kind of reasoning. I remember a book on the art of how | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
you manage government in the face of terrorism. The conclusion that | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
books reachs are the opposite of what Mr Binyamin Netanyahu has been | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
speaking about. He wrote that book. If you are not a politician and are | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
simply the father of children, as I am, and one of your children has | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
been murdered, blown up in an act of hatred, you look at this | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
differently. I'm sitting here not because I expect to get my daughter | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
back, and not because I'm emotional, but because having experienced this | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
I'm sufficiently motivated, as is my wife, so get up and say, "Ladies | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
and gentlemen, this was never about one soldier alone, it was something | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
much larger, which involve it is our entire society." If the Prime | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
Minister thinks we are better off now, that is something that would | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
be worth discussing. No-one from the Government has discussed | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
anything with us, or anyone else I know, throughout this process. | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
Roth, can I ask you how you feel seeing the pictures of the | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
celebrations that have been taking place, with the Palestinian | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
prisoners being released? Do you think that's a really inappropriate | :06:58. | :07:04. | |
reaction or is it just human emotion? It goes well beyond | :07:05. | :07:07. | |
inappropriate, but the real question is whether the | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
appropriateness is inappropriate to the centre of London or some other | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
civilised place, or to the context in which it was happening. When | :07:17. | :07:24. | |
high daughter was murdered in 2001 we were sent pictures of men | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
dancing on the streets of many capitals can. And then we saw a | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
replica of the restaurant where my daughter was killed, complete with | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
tomato sauce on the walls and body parts made out of I don't know what. | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
Inappropriate is not really part of our lexicon. It is clear we are | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
dealing with a profound hatred which scact rises terrorism | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
wherever it o curse, and there is no point in expecting civilised | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
behaviour or even behaviour that the rest of us can understand. | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
Arnold Roth, thank you. Earlier we got a sense of the | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
celebrations under way in Gaza and also of the mixed feelings in | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
Israel, following the release of Gilad Shalit. Israelis who are | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
opposed to the exchange pointed out the background of some of the | :08:16. | :08:26. | |
:08:26. | :08:35. | ||
Palestinian prisoners released One of the 27 women freed, a former | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
TV journalist, drove a suicide bomber to a restaurant, part of an | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
attack which killed 15 people. Walid Abdel Hadi Aqel was charged | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
with murder and other offences for with murder and other offences for | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
which he was serving 16 life innocences. We are joined by the | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
Israeli ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub. Thank you for joining | :08:56. | :09:04. | |
us. Not at all. Why has Israel agreed this release? It's been, as | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
the Prime Minister said, an agonising decision, a decision | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
that's accompanied us over five years and four months since Gilad | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
Shalit was taken into captivity. One of the reasons it is so painful | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
is precisely what you've been talking about, the fact that the | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
people going free are people who are responsible for some absolutely | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
brutal atrocities. They are going into if arms of people who are | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
welcoming them as heroes. In Arabic I heard the chants, "We want | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
another Gilad Shalit.". Is this should not just political gain for | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
the Government? I don't think it's a political decision at all, but a | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
human decision. On the other side toef equation, pretty much everyone | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
in Israel has been touched bay terrorist atrocity, friends and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
family and so on, we have a society where sadly everybody is also | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
touched by the need to serve in the armed forces. The fact is the only | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
thing between these terrorists and our homes and our children are our | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
young men and women who have to defend ourselves. The message that | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
we send, that we will do everything possible to bring these people home, | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
is an extremely important message for the young people in Israel to | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
hear. How you strike to balance between sending that message | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
between doing everything you can to fulfil your commitment to those | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
young people but not endanger future potential victim victims of | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
terrorist attacks is exscruesiating. Is Israel backed into a corner | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
because of the changing glds the region? Hamas, the reason that | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
Hamas changed its criteria for the deal and became more flexible is | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
because they were really under pressure. The fact is the people of | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
Gaza see their neighbours with the Arab Spring claiming basic rights | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
and freedoms they would like to have for themselves. We see Hamas's | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
popularity was in a down slide. That's the reason why they agreed | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
to terms Israel had been sinnisting on for a number of years and that | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
deal became possible. We heard the leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, talk | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
about Egypt this this deal. How important has that role been? | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
did play a very important role. After different international | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
mediators tried to move this ahead, Egypt, which does have a | :11:22. | :11:26. | |
relationship with Hamas and has concerns about Hamas, was able to | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
put the pieces together. Obviously we would like to to be a | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
springboard for deepening our relations with Egypt. It's a | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
crucial potential partner for news the region. Because things are so | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
much in a state of flux in Egypt we have to hope for the best. | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
power of negotiation going forward between Israel, Hamas and Fatah. | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
That again is another important part of the pulz. Ideally we don't | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
want to give any additional legitimacy to Hamas, which is | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
totally opposed to any peace deal. We have no interest in giving | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
legitimacy to them. If we could, we loo like to strengthen the | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
Palestinian Authority leader, President Abbas, who we like like | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
to join us at the negotiating table. The fact is this is really a | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
demonstration of the fact that as much as President Abbas would like | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
to claim to be the head of what he would like to be a state, large | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
areas in the Gaza Strip are not under Palestinian control but Hamas | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
control. You can tell us more about the security deal that's been done, | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
allegedly? Binyamin Netanyahu is warning that any of the militants | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
freed will be punished if they return to violence. How is that | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
going to be policed? One of the aspects of the deal is that a lot | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
of these releases are not blanket releases but are subject to various | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
conditions. There are some people that are going to remain under | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
various forms of house detention or within particular areas, some are | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
going to be expelled from the area and not allowed back These are the | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
reasons why I think Israel's defence establishment, the Chief of | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
Staff, the head of intelligence, have come out in support of the | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
deal. As difficult as it is, I think that's one of the things that | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
have given the Israeli people... They are 100% sure this deal can be | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
enforced with 100%? The situation we are facing is so complex that we | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
have to made difficult, calculated risks. We have to try to do that | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
where on the one hand we are giving consideration to the genuine | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
security concerns of victims of terrorism and society as a whole, | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
and on the other hand recognising the fact that here is an Israeli | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
young man who at the request of his society went out to defend his | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
country and we have an obligation to try and bring him home. You are | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
talking about trust now between the two parties. Gilad Shalit said | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
during an interview earlier that he wanted all Palestinian prisoners | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
released. I actually heard that interview. What he did say, he | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
would love to see all Palestinian prisoners released if there was a | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
situation where they couldn't revert to terrorism and attack | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
Israel. That's something that reflects the broad feeling of all | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
people in Israel. We don't have any interest in arresting people trying | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
to kills and keep them in prison. We would like to have two | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
prosperous neighbouring societies. Unfortunately that isn't the | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
situation at the moment. At the moment 07% of Israelis are in | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
support of this deal and 30% against. How are you going to | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
reassure them that future imbalanced deals aren't on the | :14:41. | :14:46. | |
cards? I don't think the statistics reflect the complexity of the issue. | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
I think every Israeli is torn about this. I think every Israeli today | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
is thinking on the one hand of their children, of young people | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
they know who are defending the country, and on the other hand | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
thinking of people they know killed in acts of terrorism, and trying | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
too find the most responsible way of moving ahead in this environment. | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
Mr Netanyahu said he feared if a deal wasn't being done they could | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
have lost Gilad Shalit forever. What did he mean by that, do you | :15:14. | :15:21. | |
know? Every Israeli has in the back of their mind and Binyamin | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
Netanyahu said explicitly, we have Israelis captured by organisations | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
in the past who've disappeared from the face of the earth and we have | :15:28. | :15:38. | |
never heard of them again. An Air Force person was lost. One of the | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
shock Hamas techniques was to show a film of Gilad Shalit's face | :15:43. | :15:53. | |
:15:53. | :15:54. | ||
turning into that one, sending a There was massive reaction in the | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
region. Is this not an opportunity for a springboard, for the Israeli | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
government to do something big, to say we will come back to talks. You | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
know we need that to break -- bring Fatah back to the talks. We need to | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
recognise that Hamas as it is is not interested in a peace process. | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
The head of their foreign relations recently said they will only be an | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
end to the conflict when there is an end to the state of Broe Israel, | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
that is not a basis for negotiations. -- state of Israel. | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
We need to do everything we can to try to work with the Palestinian | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
Authority to get them to come back to the negotiating table. But of | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
this is seen as a successful move does that not give you an example | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
to follow and move things forward? I think it shows that Israel has a | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
leadership that is prepared to make tough decisions. It is prepared to | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
try to deliver and the people are prepared to live with tough | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
decisions as well. I hope it sends a message to Palestinians that if | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
they come back to the table they will find a government and people | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
that wants peace and is prepared to move ahead towards that. It has | :17:05. | :17:15. | |
:17:15. | :17:21. | ||
been a remarkable day. Thank you Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to the | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
prisoners and delivered a special message to Egypt. TRANSLATION: We | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
would like to salute our brothers in Egypt. They have worked | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
tirelessly for the release of our brothers and sisters. We would also | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
like to salute Egypt for its role in the Palestinian reconciliation | :17:42. | :17:49. | |
process. It is a process started by you inside the prisons, you have | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
worked hard for reconciliation and that reconciliation will happen, no | :17:55. | :18:03. | |
matter what. Let's go live and speak to an adviser to the | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
Palestinians Authority president. Thank you for joining us. Your | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
reaction to the deal and Exchange today? Maybe you can hear the noise | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
around me, people are still celebrating in the streets. Behind | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
me is a compound where people are expressing joy not only for the | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
release of the President's -- prisoners but also for the great | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
speeches we heard mainly emphasising the importance of | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
reconciliation and promising the Palestinian people that the | :18:34. | :18:43. | |
existence of people behind it and those working behind it will see | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
the light at the end of the tunnel. Give me your reaction to families | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
in Israel who have had a family members are murdered or victims of | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
violence who see the celebrations, do you understand how this might | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
stick in their throats? celebrations are also underway in | :19:00. | :19:07. | |
Israel. Gilad Shalit has been released and people are celebrating. | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
I no conflict has its claims on people and what we saw over decades | :19:11. | :19:18. | |
of conflict can be ended and ended soon. This is the longest Israeli | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
occupation in a modern time, but it is finished and ended when all the | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
people in Palestine can rest in peace and Israel will be more | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
accepted in the Arab and Muslim worlds in accordance to the Arab | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
initiative. I you confident these prisoners who have been released, | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
those who were responsible for violence will not impose this | :19:37. | :19:47. | |
:19:47. | :19:51. | ||
violence again -- are you Apologies, we appear to have lost | :19:51. | :19:58. | |
our guest. Technical difficulties. If we can get him back, we will. | :19:58. | :20:08. | |
:20:08. | :20:20. | ||
Now to the Tel LAUGH airbase in I'm terribly sorry we have lost the | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
sound there. We know that Gilad Shalit has been reunited with his | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
family. We heard from the Prime Minister that he was delighted to | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
say to the parents of Gilad Shalit I have returned your son home to | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
you. He was fearful that he would have lost him forever if this deal | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
was not done. Gilad Shalit was any 19 when he was abducted in June in | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
2006. He was taken by a joint force of Palestinian militants who | :20:49. | :20:59. | |
:20:59. | :21:04. | ||
tunnelled under the Gaza at Israeli border. The moment Gilad Shalit was | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
captured, he was seized from his tank just over the border from Gaza. | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
Two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian militants were killed | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
in the raid. That was June 2006. Soon after Israel launched an | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
offensive aimed, it said, at securing Gilad Shalit's release and | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
ending rocket fire from Palestinian militants. 300 Palestinians died in | :21:29. | :21:35. | |
the next few months. And several Israelis. An Israeli blockade was | :21:35. | :21:42. | |
also imposed on Gaza. Gilad Shalit remained in captivity. Across | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
Israel the campaign group for his release. The demand was for the | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
government to do what Israel had done before, to agree an exchange | :21:49. | :21:59. | |
:21:59. | :22:09. | ||
of prisoners. The strength of our army, of our society, our belief | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
that we are not leaving anyone in the field, in prison, or elsewhere, | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
we will do all we can to bring him home. And then in 2009 the first | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
glimpse of staff to Sergeant Shalit for more than 1200 days as Hamas | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
released a video. Their prisoner looked gaunt, but managed a half | :22:28. | :22:38. | |
:22:38. | :22:42. | ||
smile. He says I hope the current government when waste the chance of | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
a deal so I can finally realise my dream. Four Palestinians the issue | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
of prisoners is hugely important. Over 5000 are held in Israeli | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
prisons. Some have been convicted by his records of murder, some have | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
been detained without charge. -- Palestinian society regards | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
prisoners as people who have acted on behalf of society and sacrifice | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
themselves for Palestinian society. The whole society feels indebted to | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
them. The Gilad Shalit's release and is a trauma for Israel, a | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
country where almost every Jewish family as someone in the army. The | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
prisoner swap will also be celebrated by Palestinians. But | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
tensions with Hamas remain high, for the optimism generated by this | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
event, the conflict has not been changed. | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
Let's go live now to the Rafah Crossing. We have seen some | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
incredible scenes in the last two hours. What is happening now? | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
it has been extremely emotional and quite chaotic today as these | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
Palestinian prisoners were brought in from Egypt on buses. Most of | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
them have been transferred now by bus either home to their families, | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
or money will go to Gaza City where a huge rally is being planned by | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
Hamas later today where we could see up to 100,000 people in the | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
main square in Gaza City. Very emotional today, many of the | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
family's meeting their relatives have not seen their husbands, sons, | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
brothers for 10, 20, maybe 30 years. One elderly gentleman pulled me | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
aside, he was waiting for his nephew and he said just remember | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
one thing today - Palestinians have mothers, too, and those mothers | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
today are feeling the same as Gilad Shalit's mother. Any sense thereof | :24:44. | :24:51. | |
worry about where this politically takes us forward? A huge imbalance, | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
some see it, and the numbers of people released. Over 1000 released | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
for the sake of one Israeli soldier. Politically where does that leave | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
us? I think Israel wanted to get their soldier home, we heard in | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
that piece there the importance of the Israeli army and reservists for | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
ordinary Israeli citizens. Most people in Israel have a relative in | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
the army. I think Hamas will make political capital from this. They | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
will portray this as a victory. 1000 visitors for -- prisoners for | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
one man seems in their favour. I think Hamas negotiated this from a | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
vision -- a position of weakness because they were worried about | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
their popularity. They will get a short-term boost from this but they | :25:37. | :25:45. | |
have played their big carp now. One ominous thing we had here was we | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
had prisoners, relatives and Hamas supporters shouting we want a new | :25:50. | :26:00. | |
:26:00. | :26:01. | ||
Gilad Shalit. That would be ominous We have seen momentous scenes there | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
behind you. Things have quietened down a bit but huge numbers of | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
people still gathering in Gaza. Those scenes of celebration are | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
expected to continue long into the day. There have also been seen as | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
of celebration in Israel where the 19 year-old soldier was released. | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
He has arrived back on Israeli soil, he has been reunited with his | :26:27. | :26:34. | |
family. We have had the Israeli leader describing long days of | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
negotiation in Cairo with Hamas saying he did stand their ground | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
but when the main demands of Israel were met and accepted the decision | :26:43. | :26:49. |