PIC
[ 17/02/2010 - 11:32 AM ]
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli channel 2 TV has revealed Tuesday that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu presented a new offer to swap captured Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit with Palestinian captives in Israeli jails, describing it as the "last offer".
The channel further revealed that German mediator Gerhard Conrad would arrive in Israel within few days to discuss the new offer and get an answer from the two parties to achieve the deal.
A couple of days ago, the channel quoted Netanyahu as saying while in Moscow that the new offer is the last offer his government could present to achieve the swap deal, and that he urged the Russian leadership to pressure Hamas movement to accept the new offer.
A few months ago, Hamas Movement asserted that Netanyahu foiled an opportunity to achieve the swap deal after he reneged on earlier promises he made to conclude the deal.
In the same context, Netanyahu's war minister Ehud Barak admitted that the option of releasing Shalit through military action has failed, and that negotiations for his release would continue till he is freed.
"There is no way to launch another military operation to release Shalit because Israel isn’t ready to pay the entire price for his freedom", Barak was quoted as saying while addressing a group of Israeli settlers south of occupied Palestine.
"We have conducted a number of military operations to free Israeli captives and we succeeded, but this time it is not easy for a number of considerations, and thus, we will continue negotiating till we have him free", Barak added.
However, Barak's remarks were contrary to the statements of Netanyahu that his offer would be the last offer.
[ 17/02/2010 - 11:13 AM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- Riyadh Al-Ashkar, the information officer in the PA ministry of prisoners and ex-prisoners' affairs, on Tuesday emphasized that the Israeli pressure on the Palestinians to pass a weak prisoners' swap deal on Israeli conditions would fail.
Ashkar's remarks came after Israeli settlers supporting the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit gathered at Karm Abu Salem crossing point, southeast of Gaza Strip, and wrote phrases in Arabic and in Hebrew on trailers entering the besieged Strip.
The phrases read "If Gilad is freed you would enjoy a wonderful life", and "Oh people of Gaza… the siege and the suffocation isn’t a rule from Allah"; however, Ashkar underlined that such tactics won't deceive the Palestinian people, especially relatives of the Palestinian captives in Israeli jails, who, according to him, pressure the Palestinian resistance to remain steadfast on their conditions for the swap deal.
"We want to achieve an honorable deal to our people… we want our captives back home to join their children… we have the full support of our people in Gaza in this regard", Ashkar underscored.
He described the IOA linking of Shalit case to the siege as psychological war to extort the Palestinian people and to coerce them to bow to Israeli conditions.
"They (Israelis) don’t know well the nature of the Palestinian people who are ready to sacrifice for the sake of the prisoners who sacrificed their blood and freedom for the sake of Palestine", Ashkar stressed.
He also called on local and international media to pinpoint the party that really hinders the deal, stressing that it was Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu who derailed the deal after he reneged on his promises at the last minute and foiled the agreement.
Ashkar also urged the Israeli settlers to pressure their government into accepting the "fair" demands and conditions of the Palestinian resistance if they indeed want Shalit freed.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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