Patrick Chappatte in Le Temps, (Geneva 10/12/11)209
209 retrieved 10/12/11 from http://www.globecartoon.com This cartoon was one of many published world wide calling attention to the
magnitude of the numerical imbalance in the swap of 1027 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier who had been captured by Hamas.
7.1 Introduction
The exchange of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners for a single Israeli is a stark example of the value- of-life concept referred to in the introduction, and which permeates this thesis. The latest life-price index - that of the 2011 prisoner exchange - put an Israeli life as ‘worth’ 1027 Palestinians. Israel shows no recognition of the paradox in claiming it celebrated “life” in securing the return of a solider from an occupying force, while accusing Palestinians fighting that occupying force of “celebrat[ing] death” in the release of “people who have killed dozens of men, women and children...a huge ethical difference” (Rogin, 2011). The exchange of prisoners politicizes their lives, plays games with their fate, and the lop-sided exchange rates reduce them to a nameless, faceless, and categorized dangerous mass. That so many Palestinian prisoners can be regularly “worth wasting” on prisoner swaps exposes the political nature of the bargains, which in turn raises serious doubts over the threat they actually pose to Israel’s security in the first place (Ha’aretz, 22/11/07). This chapter identifies the considerable political, military, legal and moral implications of prisoner exchanges210. Together these
phenomena are shown to actualize Foucauldian power politics, punishment and control, and the relegation of a population to Agamben’s marginalized bare life, or in the cases of those who are assassinated or collateral damage in the search for captured Israelis, homo sacer. This chapter brings these concepts to life in:
exploration of the politically expedient business of the prisoner exchange; Israel’s crossing of its own red lines in that it deals with those it deems terrorists when it suits domestic politics; Palestinians as a population are commodified in their being traded en masse, and in order to maintain a reservoir for future deals prisoner re- arrests or new arrests begin immediately. These are all elements of the Wafa al-Ahrar/Shalit deal which is examined in detail as a prime, contemporary amalgam of the many facets of the prisoner exchange211.
7.2 Transactional diplomacy - the business of prisoner exchanges
The bureaucratic imisseration of Palestinians within the OPT - the proof of “extra penal incarceration” - together with brutal arrests, arbitrary detention and torture of prisoners, accentuate the distortions between life as a Palestinian being a citizen of no state, and that of an Israeli citizen (Foucault, 1977:297).212 Philosophically
these carceral practices entwine Foucault’s questioning of the purpose of the modern prison as a “great economy of power” in its “accumulation and useful administration” of people; with, Agamben’s synopsis of relegation to bare life on the margins, or completely excluded from, society (Foucault, 1977:303; Agamben, 1998). The reality is that with more than 750,000 Palestinians imprisoned during the time of the occupation, few, if any families are unfamiliar with the political currency of prisoners when it comes to exchanges, which are now an established component of Zionist carceral practice.
210 Sebba notes there is still little academic literature on the issue of Israeli-Palestinian prisoner exchanges, and suggests this subject
is worthy of some in-depth legal-criminological analysis. Sebba recommends scholarly investigation along the lines of the work of Kevin McEvoy’s work on Northern Ireland, which is referred to throughout this chapter.
211 Wafa al-Ahrar is Arabic for ‘the loyalty of the free’ see www.pflp.ps/uploads/1337009833VictoryorDeath27eng.pdf 212 Foucault discusses at length the spread of carceral techniques from the prison to the “entire social body” which include
mechanisms of surveillance, control, regulation and punishment (1977:298-308). Applied to daily life in the OPT they impact directly on the social, legal, civil and political rights of Palestinians, and restrict them as if they were in a prison. This is why Gaza and the West Bank are regularly referred to as open-air prisons. Gaza is sealed off by Israel apart from the Rafah Crossing into Egypt. The West Bank is divided hundreds of permanent checkpoints, mobile blockades, the Separation Wall, and a road system that
differentiates between religions and races which signs that read “Arafat Makkah:Muslims Only” and “Taif Riyadh: Obligatory for Non- Muslims”, (BoliwarRed, (2009) ‘Palestine: The World’s Largest Open Air Prison: Checkpoints Part 1” (2/10/09) retrieved 09/11/12 from
Prisoner exchanges have occurred sporadically throughout the history of occupation, with the 2011 Wafa al- Ahrar/Shalit deal the most recent.213 The release of prisoners is at the core of all Israeli/Palestinian peace
negotiations, just as it was in peace processes in South Africa and Northern Ireland. Prisoner releases and amnesties are widely regarded as basic elements in peace negotiations and considered necessary for putting an end to a conflict (Addameer, 2009:5).214 However by categorizing Palestinians as security threats, they are
denied the status of being released as political prisoners, incarcerated for their nationalist struggle.215 As with
the IRA prisoners in British jails, the stripping of political status is designed to “delegitimize the political motivation of anti-state activists...[and] systematically undermine ... characteristics that determine[d] political motive and ethos” (Moen, 2000:6).216 This strategic distinction between security and political prisoner is also
used by Israel to reinforce the paramountcy of its own security. Yet, if these prisoners are so dangerous, with so much Israeli blood on their hands, how can their freedom in such numbers be countenanced?217