First Schalit prisoner swap list to be released next week
Justice Ministry set to publish list of 450 male prisoners, 27 female prisoners due for release in 1st stage of deal.
By JOANNA PARASZCZUK, YAAKOV LAPPINPalestinian prisoners in Israel's Ketziot prison 311 (R)(photo credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)The Justice Ministry announced on Wednesday afternoon that it will publish a list of 450 male prisoners and 27 female prisoners due for release as part of the first stage of the deal to return Gilad Schalit.The list will be published by Sunday morning at the latest, the ministry said.RELATED:Hamas's Mashaal: Prisoner deal is 'national achievement'Barak: We've taken a great step in bringing Gilad homeTimeline: Five years in Hamas captivityThe announcement came after a meeting in the office of the Justice Ministry general director, Dr. Guy Rotkoff, head of the inter-ministerial team dealing with legal and administrative matters connected with the release of Palestinian prisoners.According to the ministry spokesman, the meeting discussed the legal issues involved in the Schalit swap deal, including the necessary coordination between the various parties involved.The ministry said that the list of prisoners will be posted on the Prison Service website, and the Justice Ministry will also operate an information center to answer telephone inquiries from the public before the prisoners are released."As in the past, we intend to make the list of prisoners available to the public for at least 48 hours in order to transmit any reservations or objections to any of the [prisoner] releases," the ministry spokesman said.Earlier on Wednesday The Prison Service began preparing for the release of security prisoners as part of the deal that will see 1,027 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons.Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovich met with police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino and senior officials from Israel Prisons Service (IPS) Wednesday morning in order to update them on the prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
