"The release of the Palestinian prisoners is an unprincipled, political act of survival by [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu," says former minister Moshe Shahal. In the Oslo period, Shahal headed the committee for release of Palestinian prisoners in his capacity as minister of internal security in the late Yitzhak Rabin's government [1992-1996].
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Shahal reveals that the committee he headed had conducted extensive discussions after which it rejected all the Palestinian prisoners who the Netanyahu government decided to release toward resumption of the diplomatic process. Even today, after 20 years, he thinks that they must not be released. Shahal feels that Netanyahu preferred to release prisoners than announce a construction freeze — an act that could threaten his government.
