Knesset passes law to prevent Palestinian prisoner exchange

The Israeli Knesset passed Monday a law that would prevent the release of Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder as part of any political agreement or prisoner swap.

The contentious law effectively removes the option to use many Palestinian prisoners as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Palestinians.

Thirty five Knesset members voted for the legislation, proposed by MKs Aylet Shaked from the Bayit Yehudi Party and David Tzur from the Hatuna Party, while 15 MKs opposed it.

While the law does not apply to current prisoners, it can be used in future court rulings, according to a report in Israeli daily Haaretz.

In cases of "murder under extraordinary severe circumstances”, such as terrorist attacks, the newspaper reported, the prisoner would not be released as part of diplomatic negotiations or paroled until serving at least a 40-year sentence.

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said this week that the law “brings back sanity and morality to Israeli policy about releasing terrorists, after years of losing the moral path.

“Terrorists should die in prison and that is how it will be,” he said.

According to Bennett, the law “sends a message to [Palestinian] society that praises murderers and names public squares after them that the policy of releasing murderers that was acceptable until now is over, and whoever will harm citizens of Israel will spend the rest of his or her life behind bars".

Tzur, one of the politicians who proposed the law, said that it sends a clear message and provides justice for families of victims whose deaths should not be connected to diplomatic negotiations, reported the Jerusalem Post.

“This is the time to prove to citizens that their personal security and lives are no less important than any other value,” said Shaked, the other politician who proposed the law, after its passage. “From today, judges will be able to rule that whoever committed a cruel murder, whether it is criminally or nationalistically motivated, will spend the rest of his or her life behind bars.”

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation originally approved the bill on 11 May in a decision that was appealed by Yesh Atid’s Science Minister Yaakov Peri, reported the Times of Israel.

“The proposal seeks to allow the court to completely tie the government’s hands” and compromises its authority with regard to political considerations, he argued. Peri’s appeal was ultimately rejected.

The release of Palestinian security prisoners has become one of the most divisive issues within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the past year after he agreed to release over 100 Palestinian prisoners at the outset of recent peace talks in July 2013.

The latest news of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Palestinians came with the announcement of the release of Mohammed Atwan, member of the Legislative Council of Hamas, on 14 October.