February 16, 2009 at 10:52 am (Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestine)
Just how serious is Israel? Do they really want to see this captured soldier freed?? Read the following to see for yourselves who is really holding him captive…..
Israel insists: Terror masterminds freed in Shalit deal must be exiled
By Avi Issacharof, Jack Koury and Barak Ravid,
Haaretz Correspondents
As a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas is taking shape, Israel has insisted that the high-level Palestinian terror masterminds it will free in exchange for captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit will not be allowed to return to Gaza or the West Bank, but rather be exiled to Syria or Lebanon, the London-based Arabic language Al-Hayat reported Monday.
Shalit was captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006. Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip, have demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier’s freedom.
Hamas has yet to respond to this Israeli demand, but Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman said last Friday that Egypt is opposed to exiling these life sentence prisoners. In essence, Suleiman said that Egypt will insist that these prisoners return home.
On Sunday, Hader Shkirat, attorney for jailed leader of Fatah’s Tanzim faction Marwan Barghouti, told Haaretz that there will be no deal for Shalit without the release of his client.
Hader added that he believes that a prisoner exchange deal will be formulated within days, and that his client will be among the Palestinian prisoners freed in the exchange.
“I can’t say for certain whether Marwan’s release will happen as part of the exchange, before it or after it, but in any case, he will be released,” Hader told Haaretz.
A spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, Abu Obeida, said Sunday that the group insists on the release of three senior figures: Ibrahim Hamed, the leader of the military wing in the West Bank; Abdullah Barghouti, responsible among others for the bombings at the Sbarro pizzeria and Cafe Moment in Jerusalem; and Abbas al-Sayed, mastermind of the Park Hotel massacre in Netanya.
With this announcement, Hamas is essentially saying that it has no intention of engaging in negotiations over the list of prisoners it has presented Israel.
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