Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz voted in favor of the Israel-Hamas prisoner swap that will see captured soldier Gilad Schalit's release objecting to previous proposals. He says he supported the current deal because it is "improved and different," speaking to Israel Radio on Wednesday.
"It's the same outline [as a similar deal a year and a half ago] but with different content," he said.
The current deal is different from earlier attempts to negotiate Schalit's release in that key symbolic figures such as
Marwan Barghouti and Abdullah Barghouti will not be released. Additionally, the deal's provisions will not allow most of the freed prisoners to return to Judea and Samaria, he explained.
