Turkey hosts 11 Palestinian exiles at MİT headquarter, next steps vague

Turkey received 11 Palestinian ex-prisoners shortly after midnight on Tuesday, diplomatic sources told Today's Zaman, in line with an agreement the opposing sides managed to reach through the reconciliation efforts of Egypt, Turkey and Germany. Meanwhile, Turkish senior sources approached by Today's Zaman acknowledged that the 11 Palestinians had been taken to the headquarters of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) following their arrival at Ankara Esenboğa Airport, and had a medical examination at the MİT building.

It has also emerged that MİT officials will remain in constant touch with the Palestinian exiles in the following days and will receive counseling on their experiences of being held in Israeli prisons. The sources separately noted that there were no violations of the law regarding the deportation, since the Palestinians were given their Palestinian passports back in Egypt to enter Turkey, but although they are now inside the country, it would not be feasible for the exiles to travel freely due to concerns over their safety. Whether the deported Palestinians would like to remain in Turkey is another question the officials raised, as they noted that “it will not be possible to keep them using force if they want to leave,” in which case officials of the concerned parties will be contacted to review the conditions.

The swap agreement included the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in two batches in order to persuade Hamas to set free a single Israeli defense forces troop, Gilad Shalit, five years after he was abducted by Hamas forces in an ambush close to the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Sources approached by Today’s Zaman on Wednesday, however, noted that the final status of the arriving Palestinians would still take some talks to finalize.

As Shalit was released from a hideout kept secret for years by Hamas rulers within the tiny Gaza region and handed over to Egyptian officials on Tuesday morning, Israel bussed to separate destinations close to 500 prisoners, some of whom were in prison for decades with most serving life sentences for killing Israelis. While most prisoners were returned to their hometowns in the West Bank, Gaza and even towns within Israel, Israel tied the swap to a critical condition that just over 40 of the Palestinian prisoners would be deported to third countries, including Turkey, Syria and Qatar.

In line with the condition, Turkey agreed to host a share of Palestinian ex-prisoners upon talks with both the Palestinian authority and the ruling Hamas administration in Gaza and received 10 Palestinian men and one woman, who came by plane from Cairo Airport. On the Turkish end, the Palestinian exiles were welcomed by Palestine’s Ambassador in Ankara Nabel Marouf and officials from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, but the identities of the exiled Palestinians were not disclosed to the public.

The Palestinian ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Turkish government for its role in the historic swap, and welcomed the 11 Palestinians who he said would undergo a health check up and be transferred to their designated homes, which were arranged by Turkish officials after a long process of sorting out the technical details of the prisoner arrangement. Marouf also hoped that Turkey would continue to assist Palestine until it becomes totally independent.

Diplomatic sources defended the decision to keep the identities of the Palestinian guests a secret, stating that it was a matter of security for all parties involved. Palestinian officials said it was usual practice in such conditions to keep the Palestinians safe and unknown inside other countries, out of fear that they might be assassinated. The Habertürk daily further reported on Wednesday that the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) would keep track of the Palestinians and make sure they did not escape, citing unnamed Turkish officials.

Despite the mystery surrounding the 11 Palestinian ex-prisoners, the Vatan daily also reported on Wednesday that the group Turkey received from Egypt included Walid Zakariya Abd al-Hadi Aqel, a Gaza born Hamas militant, also, reportedly, one of the founders and first commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade -- the hard-line military wing of Hamas. Aqel was sentenced to 16 life sentences in Israeli prison after his capture in 1992, and was considered a deadly threat to the country. It is planned that Aqel will be transferred to İstanbul, where he will live with his family, Vatan noted.

The spokesman of Hamas’ military wing, Abu Obadiah, was quoted as saying by Haaretz on Sunday that the status of the ex-prisoners and new exiles would be checked in yearly sessions between Israeli and Egyptian officials, words that hinted toward the possibility that the deported Palestinians would be kept in their new homes indefinitely. Obadiah also noted that Israel had tried to negotiate for the deportation of 260 prisoners initially, but Hamas did not cave into to its demands, keeping up its insistence, and got “90 percent of what it wanted.” According to the Haaretz report, Obadiah also announced that the exiled Palestinians were content with the arrangement and their families also agreed to move abroad and that the deal was not forced.

Turkish observers also regarded the swap as a sign of success for Hamas, but not a game changer in the larger picture in the incredibly strong enmity between Israel and Hamas, a political and military body considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and a number of other countries. “It’s [prisoner swap deal] has got to go down as a diplomatic victory for Hamas,” Mehmet Şahin, an expert for the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) said in an interview with Today’s Zaman. “The sole fact that Hamas struck an advantageous deal with Israel and earned quite a serious influence,” Şahin stated, and added that Hamas’ clout would be both over Israel in the future, and over al-Fatah, the Hamas rival in the West Bank.

Following Shalit’s release, Hamas top officials, according to international media, vowed to capture more Israeli troops in the future to be able to use them as leverage in lopsided agreements that would see to the release of the remaining 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Shalit has been the only Israeli troop returned alive in a deal brokered with Hamas in the last few decades.