On 16/7/2008 Israel and Hezbollah exchanged prisoners. Israel released 5 Lebanese prisoners, including Samir Kuntar who was sentenced to life in Israel, having spent in Israeli jails around 30 years, in addition to 199 Lebanese, Arab, and Palestinian corpses. In return Hezbollah returned the two corpses of Israeli soldiers who were captured on 12/7/2006 in a military operation by Hezbollah. The action which led to the second Lebanese war.
The exchange of prisoners benefited the Hamas movement and emphasized its adherence to the conditions for the release of the Israeli captive soldier Gilaad Shalit who had been captured on 25/6/2006, especially where it concerned the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israeli representatives which took place in Cairo, mediated by Egypt. In the light of the Calmness, Hamas was trying to achieve an exchange of prisoners, similar to the one made by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hamas also wanted to prolong the time of the negotiations regarding the release of the captive Israeli soldier to guarantee Israeli would not assault the movement, its centers, and its activists, including Hamas leaders.
Al-Quds AlArabi, a newspaper based in London, wrote on Thursday 21/8/2008 that Egypt warned Hamas leaders to be aware of Israeli attempts to target them in case no progress was being made in the indirect negotiations to free the Israeli captive soldier Shalit, against the freeing of about 1000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Out of these 1000, Hamas would select 450 prisoners (many of whom had spent dozens of years in Israeli jails, including prisoners who were indicted of killing or injured Israelis), and the other 550 prisoners were to be selected by Israel. The first response from Israel was that they agreed on 70 names of the Hamas list only, which led to a deadlock of the negotiations.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv of 9/9/2008, Israel prepared a new list for the 450 prisoners to be freed by Israel, threatening to halt the Calmness Agreement, and to start targeting Hamas leaders, fighters, and centers, in case Hamas would disagree with their list. The newspaper added that according to an Egyptian official, Hamas was insisting that the opening of the Rafah crossing border should be part of the prisoners exchange process, while Israel completely rejected such a condition.
According to the Ha’aretz of 19/9/2008, Hamas would not renew negotiations for the release of the abducted soldier Gila'ad Shalit unless Israel would meet its preconditions, the London-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat quoted a senior official of the Islamist group.
According to the report, Hamas laid out three conditions for the renewal of negotiations with Israel:
• Release of all Palestinian prisoners whose names appear on the list that had been given to Israel via Egyptian mediators.
• Implementation of all Israeli commitments in the framework of the ceasefire Agreement, including the reopening of Gaza Strip crossings for transporting all types of goods.
• The opening of the Rafah crossing.
The newspaper further stated that Ofer Dekel, Israel's chief negotiator for securing the release of Shalit, had transferred an Egyptian-brokered list to Hamas of the 450 Palestinian prisoners that Israel would be willing to release in exchange for Shalit.
According to an interview with BBC Arabic section, Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar, stated on 20/9/2008 that in case Israel would not accept the conditions agreed upon with Egypt through one year of negotiations, especially regarding the list of 450 prisoners Hamas asked to release and the total number of prisoners to be released, it meant that negotiations would have to start again from point zero.
On 24/9/2008 an Israeli official said that Israel was reviewing the Hamas list of prisoners (450) to be freed and found that Israel could accept releasing half of the list.
However, the Hamas official stated his organization's insistence on the original list of names, which included prisoners serving lengthy prison terms, members of the Hamas parliament, as well as women and children.
Hamas also demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Egypt, according to the report. "It doesn't make any sense that Egypt will moderate our prisoner exchange talks with Israel while it imprisons our members," the official said (Ha’aretz).
The ministerial Israeli team involved in the prisoners exchange (headed by vice PM Haim Ramon) met on 25/9/2008 to discuss the list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed in exchange with Gila'ad Shalit.
The team discussed the new criteria to be set by the Israeli government for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and would submit their recommendations, which were to be discussed and approved by the Israeli cabinet (according to Voice of Israel on 25/9/2008).
On 25/8/2008 Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners, non of them belonging to Hamas, as a gesture to President Abbas. Among them were 2 prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison and stayed about 30 years in Israeli jails, being accused by Israel of the killing of Israelis or their participation thereof. It was the first time that Israel released Palestinian prisoners accused of killing Israelis – with Israeli blood on their hands.
This could be considered as a very important precedent, to be repeated in the prisoners exchange, now indirectly going on (through Egypt) between Hamas and Israel.
On 3/9/2008 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar stated that Hamas stopped the negotiations with Israel through Egypt for prisoners exchange, claiming that Egypt and Israel continued closing the Gaza border crossings, especially Rafah.
On 4/9/2008, after a press conference at the end of the Quartet summit held in Damascus, including Syrian President Bashar Asaad, French President Sarkozy, the Prince of Qatar, and the PM of Turkey Rajab Ardogan, it was declared that the leaders concentrated on the peace process in the Middle East and the respective situations in Lebanon, Iraq and Darfur, in addition to the nuclear aspirations of Iran and the new problems in the Caucasus (as published in Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram on 5/9/2008).
President Sarkozy handed a letter from the Israeli captive soldier's parents to the prince of Qatar who promised to hand it to Khalid Masha'al, who in turn assured that the message would be handed to "Gilaad Shalit", who in fact had a dual nationality (French and Israeli). On 23/10/2008 Hamas leader Ayman Taha stated that the message was delivered to Shalit, while it was a humanitarian issue. He added that Hamas would not accept any further exchange of messages between Shalit and his family in the present stage of negotiations on prisoners exchange.
Due to the success of sending of the message, however, rumors began to spread that Hamas was considering to transfer the prisoner exchange negotiations process from Egypt to Qatar. The Palestinian newspaper Al-quds of 8/9/2008 published a statement of Hamas leader Dr.Ismael Radwan, denying such rumors and confirming that there was no conflict between Hamas and Egypt. He also added that the Shalit negotiations would be kept in Egypt, but Hamas was not in a hurry to finalize it before the full reopening of all Gaza border crossings and an end to the Gaza closure.
Osama Muzzaini, a Hamas leader responsible for the prisoners negotiations process, reaffirmed on 6/10/2008, that Hamas was not in a hurry with the prisoners exchange process, adding that the lack of progress in the process was due to the weakness of the Israeli government. He assumed that the indirect negotiations on the case would be restored after the formation of a new Israeli government.
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff wrote in Haaretz on 7/10/2008, quoting Israeli security officials, “time running out on Shalit deal.”
The officials told Ha'aretz that the more time passed, the more things could go wrong and the greater the danger was that an opportunity would be missed to bring Shalit home.
The officials said they believed Hamas would raise the price for Shalit as time went by. A security official also said: "Many possibilities must be taken into account, not all of them under our control. The calm in the Gaza Strip could blow up, the Egyptians could reduce their involvement in the talks to concentrate on domestic issues, and one of Gila'ad's guards could harm him. There could even be complications from a flu that they don't know how to treat properly at Shifa," the official said, referring to a Gaza Strip hospital.
Officials said that as far as they know, no options existed for a military option to free Shalit. Referring to the kidnapping, an official said, "there was a failure, and now the price has to be paid, even if it means releasing terrorists who are murderers."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi represent the same position, believing that time is of the essence and that Israel should be taking advantage of the ongoing cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to move ahead on a deal to release Shalit, even at a "heavy cost."
Barak said Monday 6/10/2008 at a memorial service for the Armored Corps dead, at Latrun: "We will do everything possible and appropriate to bring Gila'ad Shalit home. We will spare no efforts. That is our duty."
Barak Ravid Israeli reporter from Ha'aretz wrote on 10/10/2008 that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said in private conversations in recent weeks that it is a mistake to link the issue of kidnapped soldier Gila'ad Shalit's release to the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
PM Ihud Olmert has told officials in meetings on the matter that Israel must choose between moving ahead on Shalit's release by applying massive pressure on Hamas - which might lead to the breakdown of the cease-fire and a renewal of Qassam fire on the Negev - and a freeze on the Shalit release and quiet in Sderot and the communities close to the Gaza Strip. Sources close to Olmert have said that as long as things are quiet, Hamas has no interest in moving ahead on releasing Shalit.
According to the Al-Khayyat (an Arabic London based newspaper) of 13/10/2008, Ofer Dekel, the Israeli official dealing with the prisoners exchange, met with the Egyptian officials, and agreed to restore the indirect negotiations with Hamas from the point they had reached before, and thus not to start from scratch.
As mentioned in the beginning of this item regarding the exchange of prisoners, Avi Issacharoff wrote in Ha’aretz on 13/10/2008 that Hamas had raised the price for Shalit in the wake of the Israeli deal with Lebanon on Samir Kuntar from Hezbollah.
Negotiators involved in the talks over Shalit said Israel would have to change its criteria regarding the Palestinian prisoners it was willing to release. These sources said Hamas insisted that Israel would agree to release prisoners "with blood on their hands”. They said Hamas had raised its demands, arguing that Israel had already released Samir Kuntar, who was convicted of killing four Israelis in a 1979 terror attack in Nahariya, and two prisoners of the same category, Abu Ali Yatta and Sa'id al-Ataba, as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas wanted Israel to agree to this same principle in order to renew the talks.
On 28/11/008, according to (Voice of Israel) Ofer Dekel, Israel's chief negotiator for securing the release of Shalit, went to Cairo to accelerate the exchange process with the Egyptian side, while the Egyptians asked Hamas to send a delegation to restore the negotiations regarding this issue. Hamas agreed.
It is not always possible to bring every soldier home, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told students at Tel Aviv's Tichon Hadash high school on Thursday 11/12/2008 (Haaretz 12/12/2008), as a message to Hamas. At the same time she also opposed the idea that Israel should pay " any price" to free Shalit.
In response to Livni's comments, Shas chairman and Industry Minister Eli Yishai declared that in his view, the time had in fact come to pay "any price" for Shalit.
Hamas minister Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, interviewed on Israel Radio on 11/12/2008, insisted that a "serious" Israeli government could close a deal for Shalit "in a few hours."
The exchange of prisoners benefited the Hamas movement and emphasized its adherence to the conditions for the release of the Israeli captive soldier Gilaad Shalit who had been captured on 25/6/2006, especially where it concerned the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israeli representatives which took place in Cairo, mediated by Egypt. In the light of the Calmness, Hamas was trying to achieve an exchange of prisoners, similar to the one made by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hamas also wanted to prolong the time of the negotiations regarding the release of the captive Israeli soldier to guarantee Israeli would not assault the movement, its centers, and its activists, including Hamas leaders.
Al-Quds AlArabi, a newspaper based in London, wrote on Thursday 21/8/2008 that Egypt warned Hamas leaders to be aware of Israeli attempts to target them in case no progress was being made in the indirect negotiations to free the Israeli captive soldier Shalit, against the freeing of about 1000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Out of these 1000, Hamas would select 450 prisoners (many of whom had spent dozens of years in Israeli jails, including prisoners who were indicted of killing or injured Israelis), and the other 550 prisoners were to be selected by Israel. The first response from Israel was that they agreed on 70 names of the Hamas list only, which led to a deadlock of the negotiations.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv of 9/9/2008, Israel prepared a new list for the 450 prisoners to be freed by Israel, threatening to halt the Calmness Agreement, and to start targeting Hamas leaders, fighters, and centers, in case Hamas would disagree with their list. The newspaper added that according to an Egyptian official, Hamas was insisting that the opening of the Rafah crossing border should be part of the prisoners exchange process, while Israel completely rejected such a condition.
According to the Ha’aretz of 19/9/2008, Hamas would not renew negotiations for the release of the abducted soldier Gila'ad Shalit unless Israel would meet its preconditions, the London-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat quoted a senior official of the Islamist group.
According to the report, Hamas laid out three conditions for the renewal of negotiations with Israel:
• Release of all Palestinian prisoners whose names appear on the list that had been given to Israel via Egyptian mediators.
• Implementation of all Israeli commitments in the framework of the ceasefire Agreement, including the reopening of Gaza Strip crossings for transporting all types of goods.
• The opening of the Rafah crossing.
The newspaper further stated that Ofer Dekel, Israel's chief negotiator for securing the release of Shalit, had transferred an Egyptian-brokered list to Hamas of the 450 Palestinian prisoners that Israel would be willing to release in exchange for Shalit.
According to an interview with BBC Arabic section, Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar, stated on 20/9/2008 that in case Israel would not accept the conditions agreed upon with Egypt through one year of negotiations, especially regarding the list of 450 prisoners Hamas asked to release and the total number of prisoners to be released, it meant that negotiations would have to start again from point zero.
On 24/9/2008 an Israeli official said that Israel was reviewing the Hamas list of prisoners (450) to be freed and found that Israel could accept releasing half of the list.
However, the Hamas official stated his organization's insistence on the original list of names, which included prisoners serving lengthy prison terms, members of the Hamas parliament, as well as women and children.
Hamas also demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Egypt, according to the report. "It doesn't make any sense that Egypt will moderate our prisoner exchange talks with Israel while it imprisons our members," the official said (Ha’aretz).
The ministerial Israeli team involved in the prisoners exchange (headed by vice PM Haim Ramon) met on 25/9/2008 to discuss the list of Palestinian prisoners to be freed in exchange with Gila'ad Shalit.
The team discussed the new criteria to be set by the Israeli government for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and would submit their recommendations, which were to be discussed and approved by the Israeli cabinet (according to Voice of Israel on 25/9/2008).
On 25/8/2008 Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners, non of them belonging to Hamas, as a gesture to President Abbas. Among them were 2 prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison and stayed about 30 years in Israeli jails, being accused by Israel of the killing of Israelis or their participation thereof. It was the first time that Israel released Palestinian prisoners accused of killing Israelis – with Israeli blood on their hands.
This could be considered as a very important precedent, to be repeated in the prisoners exchange, now indirectly going on (through Egypt) between Hamas and Israel.
On 3/9/2008 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar stated that Hamas stopped the negotiations with Israel through Egypt for prisoners exchange, claiming that Egypt and Israel continued closing the Gaza border crossings, especially Rafah.
On 4/9/2008, after a press conference at the end of the Quartet summit held in Damascus, including Syrian President Bashar Asaad, French President Sarkozy, the Prince of Qatar, and the PM of Turkey Rajab Ardogan, it was declared that the leaders concentrated on the peace process in the Middle East and the respective situations in Lebanon, Iraq and Darfur, in addition to the nuclear aspirations of Iran and the new problems in the Caucasus (as published in Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram on 5/9/2008).
President Sarkozy handed a letter from the Israeli captive soldier's parents to the prince of Qatar who promised to hand it to Khalid Masha'al, who in turn assured that the message would be handed to "Gilaad Shalit", who in fact had a dual nationality (French and Israeli). On 23/10/2008 Hamas leader Ayman Taha stated that the message was delivered to Shalit, while it was a humanitarian issue. He added that Hamas would not accept any further exchange of messages between Shalit and his family in the present stage of negotiations on prisoners exchange.
Due to the success of sending of the message, however, rumors began to spread that Hamas was considering to transfer the prisoner exchange negotiations process from Egypt to Qatar. The Palestinian newspaper Al-quds of 8/9/2008 published a statement of Hamas leader Dr.Ismael Radwan, denying such rumors and confirming that there was no conflict between Hamas and Egypt. He also added that the Shalit negotiations would be kept in Egypt, but Hamas was not in a hurry to finalize it before the full reopening of all Gaza border crossings and an end to the Gaza closure.
Osama Muzzaini, a Hamas leader responsible for the prisoners negotiations process, reaffirmed on 6/10/2008, that Hamas was not in a hurry with the prisoners exchange process, adding that the lack of progress in the process was due to the weakness of the Israeli government. He assumed that the indirect negotiations on the case would be restored after the formation of a new Israeli government.
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff wrote in Haaretz on 7/10/2008, quoting Israeli security officials, “time running out on Shalit deal.”
The officials told Ha'aretz that the more time passed, the more things could go wrong and the greater the danger was that an opportunity would be missed to bring Shalit home.
The officials said they believed Hamas would raise the price for Shalit as time went by. A security official also said: "Many possibilities must be taken into account, not all of them under our control. The calm in the Gaza Strip could blow up, the Egyptians could reduce their involvement in the talks to concentrate on domestic issues, and one of Gila'ad's guards could harm him. There could even be complications from a flu that they don't know how to treat properly at Shifa," the official said, referring to a Gaza Strip hospital.
Officials said that as far as they know, no options existed for a military option to free Shalit. Referring to the kidnapping, an official said, "there was a failure, and now the price has to be paid, even if it means releasing terrorists who are murderers."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi represent the same position, believing that time is of the essence and that Israel should be taking advantage of the ongoing cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to move ahead on a deal to release Shalit, even at a "heavy cost."
Barak said Monday 6/10/2008 at a memorial service for the Armored Corps dead, at Latrun: "We will do everything possible and appropriate to bring Gila'ad Shalit home. We will spare no efforts. That is our duty."
Barak Ravid Israeli reporter from Ha'aretz wrote on 10/10/2008 that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said in private conversations in recent weeks that it is a mistake to link the issue of kidnapped soldier Gila'ad Shalit's release to the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
PM Ihud Olmert has told officials in meetings on the matter that Israel must choose between moving ahead on Shalit's release by applying massive pressure on Hamas - which might lead to the breakdown of the cease-fire and a renewal of Qassam fire on the Negev - and a freeze on the Shalit release and quiet in Sderot and the communities close to the Gaza Strip. Sources close to Olmert have said that as long as things are quiet, Hamas has no interest in moving ahead on releasing Shalit.
According to the Al-Khayyat (an Arabic London based newspaper) of 13/10/2008, Ofer Dekel, the Israeli official dealing with the prisoners exchange, met with the Egyptian officials, and agreed to restore the indirect negotiations with Hamas from the point they had reached before, and thus not to start from scratch.
As mentioned in the beginning of this item regarding the exchange of prisoners, Avi Issacharoff wrote in Ha’aretz on 13/10/2008 that Hamas had raised the price for Shalit in the wake of the Israeli deal with Lebanon on Samir Kuntar from Hezbollah.
Negotiators involved in the talks over Shalit said Israel would have to change its criteria regarding the Palestinian prisoners it was willing to release. These sources said Hamas insisted that Israel would agree to release prisoners "with blood on their hands”. They said Hamas had raised its demands, arguing that Israel had already released Samir Kuntar, who was convicted of killing four Israelis in a 1979 terror attack in Nahariya, and two prisoners of the same category, Abu Ali Yatta and Sa'id al-Ataba, as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas wanted Israel to agree to this same principle in order to renew the talks.
On 28/11/008, according to (Voice of Israel) Ofer Dekel, Israel's chief negotiator for securing the release of Shalit, went to Cairo to accelerate the exchange process with the Egyptian side, while the Egyptians asked Hamas to send a delegation to restore the negotiations regarding this issue. Hamas agreed.
It is not always possible to bring every soldier home, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told students at Tel Aviv's Tichon Hadash high school on Thursday 11/12/2008 (Haaretz 12/12/2008), as a message to Hamas. At the same time she also opposed the idea that Israel should pay " any price" to free Shalit.
In response to Livni's comments, Shas chairman and Industry Minister Eli Yishai declared that in his view, the time had in fact come to pay "any price" for Shalit.
Hamas minister Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, interviewed on Israel Radio on 11/12/2008, insisted that a "serious" Israeli government could close a deal for Shalit "in a few hours."
