Amnesty International issued a press release today.

Israel-Hamas prisoner swap casts harsh light on detention practices of all sides

"Gilad Shalit was held captive for five years by Palestinian armed groups.
The prisoner exchange involving Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and 477 Palestinian prisoners highlights the need for the humane treatment of all detainees in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT)", Amnesty International said today.
Obviously it wants to show equivalence. God forbid it should criticize only Hamas.

It was not a “prisoner exchange”. It was an outrageous ransom paid for a hostage.

Amnesty only mentions the 477 terrorists that were released calling them “prisoners” rather than terrorists. What about the other 550?

Then it lumps them all into “detainees” in the OPT which I surmise includes Gaza.

“This deal will bring relief to Gilad Shalit and his family after an ordeal that has lasted more than five years. Many Palestinian families will feel a similar sense of relief today when they are reunited with their relatives, many of whom have spent decades under harsh conditions in Israeli detention,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director.

While it describes what Shalit went through as an “ordeal”, it describes the pAlestinian’s detention under “harsh conditions”. No mention of the conditions for Shalit.

And no mention of a very basic difference, Shalit was a hostage, the Arabs were convicted murders. Surely the families should have different expectations given that difference.

“However, more needs to be done to protect the rights of thousands of others who remain in detention. The Israeli authorities, the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank must seize this opportunity to ensure respect for the rights of all prisoners and detainees in their custody.”

They assert that rights must be protected without giving evidence of such need on Israel's part.

Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian armed groups from Gaza in a cross-border raid on 25 June 2006. Since then he has been allowed no contact with his family, who have campaigned relentlessly for his release. Nor was he allowed access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, despite repeated appeals by Amnesty International and other organizations, which made it impossible to verify the conditions of his captivity.

Shalit wasn’t “captured”, he was abducted. There is a difference. And don’t forget that two of his comrades were murdered.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Hamas authorities not to treat Gilad Shalit as a hostage and a bargaining chip, in violation of their obligations under international humanitarian law.

I don’t believe that it tried very hard at all to get him properly treated. It certainly didn’t make any noise about it. I don’t recall one incident where it made such demands.

It has also consistently raised concerns with the Israeli authorities about the prison conditions of Palestinian detainees, and the fact that Israel continues to imprison Palestinians from the OPT inside Israel, in violation of its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Why does it continue to call them detainees and not convicted murderers? It makes it sound like Israel is “imprisoning Palestinians” rather than murderers and those that abet them.

Besides it starts from the proposition that the Geneva Convention applies but Israel’s position is that it doesn’t.

“International human rights standards and international humanitarian law guarantee every person deprived of liberty the right to humane and dignified conditions of detention, adequate medical care, and regular family visits,” said Malcolm Smart.

Over 5,200 Palestinians from the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – and the Gaza Strip, which together comprise the OPT, are currently detained in facilities run by the Israel Prison Service. The vast majority are detained inside Israel.

Look how much time it spends detailing alleged abuses by Israel and no time detailing abuses by Hamas and the PA. When it stresses what the law requires, it is implying that Israel violates the law. Israel does no such thing.

“Israel, the Hamas de facto administration, and the Palestinian Authority must ensure that all detainees receive fair and prompt trials meeting international standards, and that judicial rulings on the release of detainees are implemented”.

Once again it is implying that Israel doesn’t do what is required and it lumps Israel in with Hamas and the PA as if they were the same.
What “judicial rulings on the release of detainees” is Israel not implementing?

Prisoners are demanding that the Israel Prison Service end the arbitrary isolation of prisoners and allow them regular family visits.

Since 27 September, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike in protest against recent punitive measures imposed by the Israeli authorities.

I am not aware of punitive measures Israel has allegedly taken nor am I aware of what Israel’s duty is to these murders who are not enemy combatants but terrorists.

The fact that they are detained on Israeli territory makes it difficult, if not impossible for their families to visit them, as the Israeli authorities often refuse to grant them travel permits. Israel suspended family visits for all prisoners from Gaza in June 2007, in a punitive policy that penalizes both the detainees and their families.

Look at all the terrorists that America has detained without trial in Abu Graib. She does so within the law. AI should be quoting exactly the law that it thinks applies and why, rather that paraphrasing God-know-what and then demanding Israel compliance.

The 477 prisoners released by Israel today, including 450 men and 27 women, include 275 sentenced by Israeli military courts to one or more life terms. Prisoners released include those convicted of ordering or carrying out attacks on Israeli civilians.

Look how far into the article it acknowledges this. The word “murder” is not to be found here. Life terms were just given for “attacks”

The Israeli High Court of Justice yesterday rejected appeals against the release filed by Israeli families and organizations opposed to the deal.

While the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are internationally recognised as a single territorial unit under the Oslo Accords and international humanitarian law, the Israeli authorities do not allow Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip access to the West Bank or vice versa. These Palestinians will thus be entirely cut off from their family members with no possibility of visits.

These lands are no more and no less than disputed territories. Israel has no obligation to accommodate the terrorists as AI suggests, yet AI makes it look as if they do.

            "The Geneva Conventions prohibit an occupying power from forcibly transferring or deporting people from an occupied territory. In the event that prisoners being exiled abroad or transferred to Gaza from the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have not given their consent, Israel would be violating its obligations under international humanitarian law."

I have read the prohibition. Itdoes not apply to terrorists murders, particularly those carried on on Israeli soil. Criminal law trumps so called “international humanitarian law”.

Look how much time it spent on Israel and no time at all on Hamas or the PA.

Lying s.o.b.'s.