sraeli soldier Gilad Shalit is interviewed by Egypt TV in this video grab from Israel‘s Channel 10 accessed from Egypt TV October 18, 2011. Shalit was released to a national outpouring of joy on Tuesday after five years in captivity, exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in a deal with Gaza’s Hamas rulers. (REUTERS/Channel 10 via Reuters TV/Handout)

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released to a national outpouring of joy on Tuesday after five years in captivity, exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in a deal with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Shalit, 25, was taken across the frontier from the Gaza Strip into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and driven to Israel’s Vineyard of Peace border crossing, where a helicopter awaited to fly him to an Israeli air base for a reunion with his parents.

Simultaneously, Israel started freeing 477 Palestinian prisoners, with witnesses seeing the first batch arriving in Gaza with others due to be released in the occupied West Bank.

A further 550 jailed Palestinians are to be handed over later this year, and some 40 are being sent into exile to Turkey, Qatar and Syria.

In the first video of Shalit released since 2009, Egyptian television footage showed the soldier, dressed in civilian clothes and wearing a baseball cap, during the exchange.

Unsmiling and looking dazed, Shalit walked briskly, with Hamas officials flanking him and gripping his arms as they led him away from a vehicle. Israeli television stations played the brief video repeatedly in a loop for 20 minutes.

The deal, between two bitter enemies, seemed unlikely to have any immediate impact on efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which broke down last year.

The mood in Israel was one of elation, with “welcome home“ signs on street corners and morning commuters watching live broadcasts of the swap on cellular telephones.

Shalit has been popularly portrayed as “everyone’s son” and opinion polls showed that an overwhelming majority of Israeli backed the thousand-for-one deal, although many of the prisoners going free were convicted of deadly attacks.

For Palestinians, it was a time to celebrate what Hamas hailed as a victory, and a heroes’ welcome awaited the released prisoners. Palestinians see brethren jailed by Israel as prisoners of war in a struggle for statehood.

“This is the greatest joy for the Palestinian people,” said Azzia al-Qawasmeh, who waited at a West Bank checkpoint for her son Amer, whom she said had been in prison for 24 years.

The deal received a green light from Israel’s Supreme Court late on Monday after it rejected petitions from the public to prevent the mass release of prisoners, many serving life sentences for deadly attacks.

Source  http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/18/israeli-soldier-freed-in-mass-prisoner-swap

Related articles

• Gilad Shalit bound for Israel ‘within days’ after prisoner swap deal ()
• Controversy as Gilad Shalit arrives for prisoner swap #Gaza #Israel ()
• Gilad Shalit release: live ()
• Hamas frees Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in prisoner swap ()
• Gilad Shalit release: Palestinian prisoner exchange getting under way ()
• Gilad Shalit completes first stage of journey home ()