October 18, 2011 8:17 AM

Netanyahu issues warning to freed Palestinians

Freed Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails flash "V" signs as their bus leaves the Egyptian terminal of the Gaza Egypt border crossing of Rafah, Egypt Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

(CBS/AP) 

TEL NOF AIR BASE, Israel - Israel's prime minister has warned the Palestinian militants freed in a prisoner swap that they will be punished if they return to violence.

Benjamin Netanyahu issued the warning after greeting Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit, the Israeli soldier who had been held by Hamas militants for five years.

(Credit: AP Photo/Israeli Government Press Office)
Hamas, the militant Palestinian group which controls Gaza, agreed to release Schalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, some 300 of whom were serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.

Netanyahu said he understood the pain of Israeli families who have lost relatives in Palestinian violence.

He said, "We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable."

Schalit free in Israel-Palestinian prisoner swap

When Tuesday's exchange is complete, 477 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including 27 women, will have been released, several of them after decades behind bars. The other 550 are set to be released in two months.

Included among the prisoners is Abdel Aziz Salha, who helped kill two Israeli soldiers who made a wrong turn on the West Bank and were stabbed to death; Nasser Yateima, who planned a 2002 hotel bombing that killed 30 people celebrating Passover; and Awana Jawad Mona, who seduced a 16-year-old Israeli boy over the Internet to come meet her. That boy, Ofir Rahum, was shot and killed when he arrived.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reported that, to Hamas, the prisoner swap deal is being portrayed as a great victory by a lopsided score: 1,027 to 1.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians, many waving green Hamas flags, are celebrating at a mass rally in Gaza.

Mass rallies celebrate freed Palestinians

In the West Bank, Hamas' political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, addressed a crowd of thousands, including freed prisoners. Abbas praised them as "freedom fighters."

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment
by thegreywolfe October 20, 2011 8:58 AM EDT
@GOPeconomicterror:
Your comments, bar none, indicate intolerance, bias and ignorance of the facts. I suggest you educate yourself on issues before you post, instead of repeating the meaningless buzzwords and slogans of propaganda outlets.
Reply to this comment
by hillbillyvol October 19, 2011 11:34 AM EDT
The Palestinian cause is barbaric through and through. They have vowed to destroy Israel because they hate the Jewish people. It has nothing to do with the land. They were happy at the Holocaust and it was hundreds of miles away from Palestine. Allowing the former prisoners to live is mercy enough. Releasing them for one man is gracious.
Reply to this comment
by GOPeconomicterror October 19, 2011 6:34 AM EDT
Nutandyahoo already stole these people homes in the "occupied territories" to build illegal settlements. Now, he's issuing them warnings to not be P.O.'d anymore????????????????/
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to this comment
by hthalljr October 18, 2011 10:53 AM EDT
Israel could learn a lesson about release and exchange of prisoners of war from, of all places, the Book of Mormon. Techniques of war have changed, but the basic strategy of the Nephites regarding prisoners still has great merit: In order to obtain release, the prisoner must make a sincere oath, before God and witnesses, that he will never again take up arms.

Sometimes warmongers (who often were Nephite dissenters) were successful in stirring up those who were under oath to return to war, but in general this policy contributed substantially to maintaining the peace.

God commanded the Nephites never to wage an offensive war, but only to defend themselves. Nevertheless, they were permitted, when under attack, to employ advanced arms technology, espionage, and whatever means necessary (including the gift of prophecy) to preserve their lives and liberty.

The war chapters (especially Alma 43 through 62) should be required reading in all military academies around the world.

My favorite example of successful strategy and magnanimity in victory, requiring an oath of peace, is that of Captain Moroni in Alma 44.
http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/44?lang=eng

Tracy Hall Jr
hthalljr'gmail'com
Reply to this comment
by GOPeconomicterror October 19, 2011 6:30 AM EDT
I thought Macaroni was an angel who told Smith it was OK to molest little girls.
by bread58 October 18, 2011 10:49 AM EDT
"We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable," said Netanyahu.

Apparently not. From now on, terrorists will attack Israel with impunity, knowing that all they have to do is kidnap one Israeli soldier and use his/her life to bargain for the lives of anyone "held accountable."
Reply to this comment
by GOPeconomicterror October 19, 2011 6:36 AM EDT
A soldier who throws down his rifle, and throws up his hands, during a fire fight where all his fellow soldiers died, has not been "kidnapped".
He is a coward who surrendered.
by HermannSchmettlapp October 18, 2011 10:34 AM EDT
To a Western democratic mind, it is difficult to see how a government that delights in telling its citizenry that their lives are worth almost nothing, in comparison to a single Jew. One one thousandth of a mere Jewish greenhorn is all that the seasoned and successful fighting (Arab and Muslim) Resistance leaders are worth. How terribly ironic and what a horribly oppressive sense of self-worthlessnes of even the most exalted Palestinian.

What a sad reality for the promise of peace to have to overcome. As former Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir is quoted, "We will achieve peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us." Apparently, that day has not yet arrived.
Reply to this comment
by kiljare October 18, 2011 9:45 AM EDT
They are celebrating, because to them it is a huge victory. I understand the moral implications of not coming for this soldier, but how many more Israelis will lose their lives due to this swap. Its easy to make the call from my position, but I would never want my government to make this deal.
Reply to this comment
by GOPeconomicterror October 19, 2011 6:31 AM EDT
Since the U.S. taxpayer subsidies support the Apartheid Israeli Welfare State, you should complain to your Israeli Congressman.
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