Israeli defaces memorial to protest Hamas swap

[October 14, 2011]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- A man whose parents and siblings were killed in a Palestinian attack defaced a memorial in Tel Aviv early Friday to protest a deal to free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier, police said.

The vandalism reflected some unease among Israelis over freeing Palestinian prisoners, despite joy over the expected return of the soldier.

The suspect was identified in Israeli media as Shvuel Schijveschuurder, 27. He splashed paint and scrawled graffiti on the memorial of slain Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv.

The monument is on the spot where Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli extremist who objected to Rabin's agreement to trade the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians for peace.

Schijveschuurder's parents and four siblings were among 15 people killed in a 2001 suicide bombing at a restaurant in 2001.

One of the 1,027 Palestinians set to be released was involved in that bombing.

"What he claims -- the suspect himself carried out the incident in connection with the prisoner swap. The suspect says his parents were murdered in a bomb attack," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said he was released and was banned from entering Tel Aviv for two weeks. Rosenfeld did not say whether he would be charged.

Among the prisoners to be freed are planners of other major attacks carried out during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.

Israel and the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza signed a deal this week to free the prisoners in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Schalit, captured more than five years ago in a cross-border raid and taken into Gaza.

The impending release of the soldier prompted widespread celebrations in Israel, but also deep unease that freeing Palestinian militants might lead to more attacks, as well as concern that the lopsided deal might encourage more abductions.

The families of Israeli victims of past Palestinian attacks often protest, saying it rewards militants for their acts. Schijveschuurder expressed such views in a newspaper interview in August.

"We must not return a single Palestinian prisoner sentenced to life in prison in Israel," he told YNet News then.

The case of prisoners in Israeli jails is deeply sensitive for Palestinians. Most have relatives who have served time in an Israeli jail. Some were sentenced for deadly attacks like the restaurant bombing, but Palestinians see them as political prisoners and demand their freedom.

[Associated Press; By DIAA HADID]

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