A regular feature of news and opinion pieces from the Israeli and Palestinian press.

1.) The Israeli press is dominated by coverage of today’s prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah. By an overwhelming vote, the Israeli Cabinet recently agreed to hand over several prisoners – including the infamous militant Samir Kuntar – in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Opinion columns in the leading English-language dailies are almost equally split on the wisdom of this decision – from a “bring them back at any price” argument to those who would appeal for more cool-headed decision-making.

Columnist Uri Orbach, writing in Ynet News, argues that prisoners released today will be the killers of tomorrow. “The next people to die will be killed by the senior terrorist who will be freed in the Gilad Shalit swap; or alternately, the abduction of the next soldier will be masterminded by the terrorist freed in the upcoming deal.” But Uri Misgiv, another columnist for Ynet News, disagrees. In an op-ed, he suggests that securing the release of the former IDF soldiers is important for national unity, in order that Israel might be able to finally “put away the Lebanon failure” of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war.

As one Israeli columnist has noted, whether you agree or disagree with the deal, there is no denying that it is a major win for Hezbollah.

In the eyes of the Arab world, Hizbullah pulled off a major victory: It survived a war against Israel, kept a million Israelis in bomb shelters for a month and got its POWs back, including an important symbol, Samir Kuntar. Israel sent the IDF into Lebanon to retrieve its two kidnapped soldiers and got them back two years after the army withdrew, and through negotiations, not force. In the eyes of the Hizbullah leadership and much of the Arab world, the deal is a victory. And they will make it look like one just in case anyone over there has any doubts. As far as Hizbullah is concerned, the Second Lebanon War account is closed. It is now looking to close the Imad Mughniyeh account.

That it got Israel to agree to release Palestinian prisoners further raises its stock in the Arab world. Through this it strengthened Hamas and weakened the Palestinian Authority, further propagating the rise of extremists over moderates in the Middle East. Housing and Construction Minister Ze’ev Boim, voting against the deal, said, “Hamas is watching and taking this swap into account, and the price we will have to pay for Gilad Schalit will be higher. We come out weaker; we strengthen [Hizbullah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, whose image in the Middle East will be boosted. His way will be perceived as the right way.”

Israeli media is also fixated on the news that Samir Kuntar will receive an “official state welcoming” when he arrives at the Beirut airport. This event will be followed by a massive rally to be held in the suburbs of the capitol. As several stunned journalists have pointed out, giving Kuntar a hero’s welcome is beyond the pale. The soon-to-be-released militant is allegedly responsible for several brutal murders, including the killing of a young Jewish girl. A writer for The Jerusalem Post opines:

The media will doubtless have a field day. Kuntar’s homecoming will likely be broadcast live on Lebanese television and, via Al-Jazeera, all over the Arab world. However, the Lebanese people and government - and those others in the Arab world, including among the Palestinians, so delighted by Kuntar’s release - might want to ask themselves whether this monster is worthy of such glorification. Is he the kind of man they want as their idol? And if so, what does that say about them?

…He has never expressed remorse, and, according to the Palestinian Authority newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida, wrote a letter recently to Nasrallah promising not to abandon the jihad against Israel. “I give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the blood of the shahids, the dearest people, and that I will continue your way until we reach a full victory,” the paper quoted him as writing. The newspaper, incidentally, carried an article calling Kuntar “a beacon of light” and an “authentic role model.”

Perhaps Kuntar’s supporters should read the eerie recollection of Smadar Haran Kaiser, now remarried with two children, of his terror cell. “I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades,” she wrote in an article for The Washington Post. “I emphasized the joy and hatred in their voices for a reason. “It is hard for anyone with normal sensibilities to comprehend how someone can feel joy and hatred while smashing in the head of a four-year-old child. What kind of pathology can cause a society to celebrate such evil?”

2.) Israeli analyst Daniel Levy, over at his blog, provides a grim round-up of the latest news from the West Bank.

• The Government of Israel’s refusal to comply with High Court rulings which have required restriction of the scope of the security barrier being constructed in the West Bank (as documented in a new B’Tselem report)
• The EU and Middle East envoy of the Quartet Tony Blair’s insistence that Israeli checkpoints and blockade of Gaza are negatively impacting Palestinian aid efforts and prospects for economic improvements
• The revelation that the settlers of the Amona outpost have illegally built a road through land determined as Palestinian under the Oslo Accords. Of course the “unauthorized” Amona outpost is still standing despite constant official Israeli commitments to the U.S. to remove all outposts.
• Data presented by human rights group Yesh Din arguing that only 10% of Palestinian claims of Israeli settler violence end up as indictments filed against the suspects
• That Palestinians in the West Bank are facing the prospect of chronic water shortages resulting from Israeli restrictions

While the Gaza ceasefire is certainly important, Levy concludes, “it’s the realities in the West Bank that are eroding the achievability of a peace agreement everyday.”

3.) Haaretz, which has been a steadfast advocate of the current negotiations between Syria and Israel, argues in an editorial yesterday that Israel must continue its efforts to make peace with Damascus. “The price for not having peace with Syria became clear in the Second Lebanon War, and it is likely to become clear in the third and fourth war in the region. An improvement in relations with any of the Arab countries contributes to Israel’s security more than any reservoir of weapons that Israel has at its disposal.”

4.) Signaling greater European involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested recently that his regional counterparts should draft a new “Road Map” and take more of a leadership role in ending the dispute.