Prisoner swap deal raises questions over Israeli Gaza blockade

A prisoners swap deal, reached between Israel and the Hamas movement on freeing the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, raised questions over the future of an Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. Although the two sides, under the Egyptian mediation, had finalized all the details of the deal to be implemented on Tuesday, neither of them had officially dealt with the issue of the Israeli blockade that the Palestinians say has exhausted their economy and daily life. However, Hamas had expressed willingness that after Shalit, Israel would eventually lose excuse to keep the blockade, imposed on the Gaza Strip right after the Israeli soldier was seized and tightened after Hamas took control of the enclave in June 2007, routing President Mahmoud Abbas' forces. The deposed premier of the Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haneya stated during Friday prayers that after finalizing the prisoner exchange deal, "the excuse of keeping the unfair siege imposed on the Gaza Strip will be over."