Majority of Israelis 'back Shalit deal'
Published 15 October 2011 17:59
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=429445

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- More than two thirds of Israelis approve of the prisoner
swap deal made with Hamas for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, a
private television network said on Saturday.

A poll commissioned by Channel 10 found that 69 percent of Israelis back the
exchange of Shalit for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, 32 percent oppose
it and the remainder gave no opinion.

While backing the deal, 62 percent of respondents said the release of
Palestinian prisoners would "worsen Israel's security situation." But 32
percent thought "it will have no impact."

The Midgam Project carried out the poll among a representative sample of 500
Israelis, both Jews and Palestinian citizens, and gave a margin error of 4.5
percent.

When asked what pushed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seal the deal
with the Hamas movement, only 22 percent said he had acted exclusively "in
the interest of Israel."

In contrast, 35 percent thought he had caved in to public opinion.

Another 35 percent said it was a bid to weaken President Mahmoud Abbas, who
requested UN membership for a Palestinian state, or to distract attention
from the social opposition movement that rocked Israel in the summer.

The Hamas rulers of Gaza are to release Shalit, captured in a cross-border
raid in 2006, in exchange for a first batch of at least 450 Palestinian
prisoners and a second of 550 within two months.

Israel, which will decide on the prisoners in the second group, has not yet
announced their names but a diplomat from Egypt, which brokered the deal,
said his country had insisted since 2007 that they be members of Abbas'
secular Fatah movement.