The September 23, 2011 statement by the Middle East Quartet[1] may prove to be a landmark in the attempts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. The carefully worded statement is drafted in such a way as to allow it to serve as a basis for both parties to resume negotiations. From the Israeli perspective, the statement is particularly welcome, as it calls on the parties to "resume direct bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations without delay or preconditions."

A rational analysis of the agreement signed between Israel and Hamas for the release of Gilad Shalit is best conducted far from the abundant rhetoric, touching photographs, and strong emotions that accompanied the extensive journalistic coverage of the event. In the course of this media event, platitudes and clichés of questionable accuracy were bandied about relentlessly.

Editor’s note: Today, Frontpage presents our “Gilad Shalit edition,” which gives a platform to the different perspectives on this most difficult issue. While the article below supports the deal that freed Shalit, Steven Plaut’s piece in today’s issue,The “Prisoner Exchange” Absurdity, opposes it. Jacob Laksin’s Faces of Terror profiles the terrorists who were released for Shalit.

On Monday and Tuesday in Israel all you had to do to experience depths and peaks of emotion was watch TV.   

On Monday, there were pictures of Abed el-Aziz Salha, the Palestinian who joyously held up his bloody hands during the lynch in 2000 of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah. And of Amana Muna, the Palestinian woman who in 2001 used online impersonation and promises of romance to lure a 16-year-old Israeli boy into a fatal hail of bullets, also near Ramallah. 

The government of Israel has agreed to a transaction with the Hamas terrorist regime for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, held hostage for more than five years. 

In exchange, Israel is asked to release more than one thousand prisoners, all of them terrorists, many of them convicted murderers who have been sentenced to multi terms of life imprisonment. The list is long, but one terrorist in particular - a woman of 31 - stands out. Her name is Ahlam Tamimi and she is serving 16 life terms for a massacre which she engineered and helped to carry out.

Events this week focus on the Egyptian-brokered agreement for the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. On October 11 the Israeli government convened a special meeting where a large majority of ministers voted to exchange 1,027 Palestinian terrorists for Gilad Shalit. Some of the terrorists had been sentenced to life terms. The agreement will be implemented in two stages. (An initial update of the agreement will be issued separately as a supplement to this bulletin.)

INSS Insight No. 286
When PA President Abbas formally submitted his bid for recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders borders and East Jerusalem as its capital, the PA thereby rejected the requests by the administration not to appeal to the United Nations. Indeed, Abu Mazen completely ignored the United States in his speech before the UN. Moreover, the statehood bid clearly rebuffed warnings by the US Congress, notwithstanding the critical importance of American assistance to the Palestinian.