"A state that goes to war has to show that it cares about its troops," said Martin van Creveld, an Israeli scholar who has written about defense issues.
Analysts say the policy reflects the unique relationship between the Israeli government and its citizens. In a state where nearly everyone serves in the military, the swap demonstrates that Israel will go to any length to protect its soldiers.
Israel this week said it had agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas, a militant organization that governs Gaza and is considered by the United States and Europe to be a terrorist group.
Talks had been going on for years over Shalit, as Egyptian officials served as mediators.
Shalit was captured in 2006 in a cross-border raid and held in Gaza. His case drew enormous public sympathy and his welfare has riveted the nation.
"Gilad Shalit is like a son to each and every one of us," Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, told CNN.
"Our soldiers have to know that when we send them out to the field of battle to risk their lives for us, … if, God forbid, they fall captive, that the state of Israel is going to do everything in its power to try to get them back," Oren, said.
Israel has approved similar prisoner swaps in recent years. In 2008, it exchanged one of its most reviled prisoners for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers captured and killed in Hezbollah's cross-border incursion that sparked a 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanon-based militia along Israel's northern border.
Oren said Israel did not negotiate directly with Hamas in the Shalit case but worked through mediators that included Egyptians and Europeans.
The United States has a strict policy against negotiating with terrorist groups on the belief that such deals will only encourage other terrorist acts. Yet, it has established private contacts with militant groups in the past, such as in Iraq.
Israel recognizes that trades might encourage new acts of terrorism, and the swaps often trigger debates over the risks involved in releasing convicted terrorists. "They realize it has a price, and they're willing to pay it," said Daniel Byman, author of A High Price: the Triumphs & Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism. "The problem is the price keeps getting bigger."
Still, there is broad agreement in Israeli society that it is OK to negotiate even if there is often debate over the terms of the deals. "They've done this enough so the principle is accepted," Byman said.
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