Gilad Shalit release: Hamas, Israel prisoner swap said to be imminent

[Scurrilous]

Israel's captured soldier Gilad Shalit would be exchanged for up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in a deal that could be be finalized this week, a Hamas official told the Monitor.

<snip>

"Israel and Hamas appear to be moving closer to a prisoner swap in which Israel would release up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

A Hamas official who asked not to be quoted told the Monitor on Monday that Israel and Hamas would probably reach a deal by week's end. One of the Gaza newspapers closest to Hamas, al-Risala, reported that the swap was being delayed by disagreement over just one prisoner. Later in the day the family of Marwan Barghouti – a popular West Bank Fatah leader held by Israel since 2002 – claimed he would be released as part of the deal."

<snip>

"Palestinian political scientist Bassem Zubeidi says Hamas is insisting that Barghouti be included in the prisoner swap. If Hamas succeeds, he says, it would boost the credibility of the Islamist organization, which has been largely relegated to the tiny Gaza Strip since a violent falling out with Mr. Abbas's Fatah party in 2007.

"If that happens, it will be perceived as a good achievement on the part of Hamas, and it will show that Hamas is delivering and capable of doing things, while Abbas is a complete mess," says Dr. Zubeidi, a professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank. "He has done nothing in his years of talking to the Israelis, Hamas will claim, while there will be a chance for Hamas to appear jubilant and successful."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1123/p06s10-wome.html

[Mosby]

1. .

snip

Hamas and Israeli officials said the deal would probably include Marwan Barghouti, one of the most popular leaders in the West Bank, widely seen as a potential heir to the current Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas.

“There is a serious chance Barghouti will be released,” said Danny Danon, deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament, and a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, in an interview in his office. Mr. Barghouti was elected from prison to a top leadership post in Fatah this past summer and some say he is a rare leader who could unify the Palestinian people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/middleeast/24mideast.html?_r=1&ref=world

[Ken Burch]

4. That would be excellent.

Barghouti is the only credible candidate for the PA presidency, and the only hope for removing the discredited and failed Hamas and Fatah leaderships from the Palestinian political scene.

[IndianaGreen]

2. The source for this story is a Hamas official

Hamas should have released Gilad months ago, just on humanitarian grounds. Taking hostages does nothing to advance the cause of national liberation, as Fidel Castro chided FARC a few years ago.

Hamas is as trustworthy as Neville Chamberlain waiving that piece of paper promising peace!

[sabbat hunter]

3. how many times

have we heard this? That Shalit's release is "imminent" Do we even know if Shalit is still alive?

[IndianaGreen]

5. I used to think he was dead, until a video of him became public

I am still pissed at the head games played by Hizbollah on the families of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. It was unconscionable!

Hamas is far worse!

[Scurrilous]

6. Tape shows Shalit 'safe and well' (Oct-02-09)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=288979

[Scurrilous]

7. Hamas leader accuses Israel of undermining talks

Source familiar with prisoner exchange talks says Israel's refusal to release top Hamas prisoners Ibrahim Hamed, Abdallah Barghouti delaying agreement. Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya: Zionist entity fully responsible for failure of efforts to finalize deal for Shalit's release

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3810692,00.html

<snip>

"Israel has rejected a demand for the release of two Hamas commanders as part of any exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, a source close to negotiations said on Wednesday, signaling talks had hit a snag.

"Hamas still insists on its demands," the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters, naming the two top Hamas prisoners as Ibrahim Hamed and Abdallah Barghouti.

Hamas sources told Ynet Wednesday that the Islamist group's leaders rejected the prisoner exchange draft agreement, as it was presented to them in Cairo."

<snip>

"Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya was quoted by a pro-Hamas website as saying Israel was responsible for undermining a deal because it had not agreed to the demands of the Palestinian factions holding captured soldier Gilad Shalit.

"Therefore, we hold the Zionist entity fully responsible for the failure of the efforts to finalize a deal for Shalit's release," he said.

Hamas sources said the group is continuing to insist that any agreement include the release of Arab-Israelis and Arab residents of east Jerusalem, as well as other "senior" prisoners Hamas says Israel is refusing to release."

[oberliner]

8. Attacks attributed to Ibrahim Hamed

* According to Israeli security sources on December 1, 2001, Hamed dispatched two suicide bombers who blew up in Zion Square and Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem killing 11 people and injuring dozens.<1>
* On March 9, 2002, a Hamas suicide bomber dispatched by Hamed blew himself up at Moment cafe massacre in Jerusalem killing 12 people.<1>
* Six people were killed in a suicide attack planned by Hamed at the Sheffield Club in Rishon Letzion on March 7 that same year.<1>
* A bomb planted in a cafeteria at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem killed nine students on July 31, 2002.<1>
* On November 9, 2003, Hamed ordered two timed suicide bombing attacks at a major Jerusalem junction and at Café Hilel in the capital. Seventeen people were killed on that day.<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Hamed

Why was this lovely man ever even in jail in the first place?

[varelse]

9. This is a hopeful sign that Shalit is still alive

I wonder how long Mr. Barghouti will remain in that condition after the swap, though.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. I wonder how many Israeli children will remain in that condition after the swap.

:eyes:

[varelse]

11. Depends on how long he's allowed to operate?

I don't think it will be long enough to do much damage. We'll see though - Hamas is still stalling, which could mean they don't actually have a live prisoner to trade :(

[oberliner]

12. Not so imminent apparently nt