Media reports are based in no small part on the Arab media, but nonetheless, a number of sources do signal Hamas remains unyielding in a number of its demands, demands which are not being accepted by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Security Cabinet.
Senior security establishment officials in Israel have proposed that the ‘senior terrorists’ to be released in a deal to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit not be permitted to return to their homes in the “West Bank” (Yehuda and Shomron), but they be compelled to relocated to Hamas-controlled Gaza or outside the country. Hamas is rejecting the stipulation according to the Arabic media. Some question the benefit of moving them to Gaza as opposed to Yehuda and Shomron, explaining they will engage in anti-Israel terror in either location.
In addition, Hamas continues to stress it will not entertain accepting a comprehensive deal which includes a prisoner deal, a ceasefire and Israel’s opening of Gaza crossings, insisting the cessation of Israel’s embargo on Gaza and the ceasefire are one package, while a prisoner release deal will be negotiated as a separate entity, at sometime in the future.
Shalit activists fear that with the changing of the guard in Israel — the establishment of a new government, will chas v’sholom close the window of opportunity towards obtaining Shalit’s release.
The pain of the Shalits and other bereaved families is evident, as the parents continue prayers and efforts to bring Gilad home, well-aware of the pain of the nation’s bereaved community, the many who have suffered the loss by murderous Arab terrorists who remain adamant in their refusal to release terrorists in any deal. Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, is also a member of the ‘bereaved community,’ having lost his brother Yoel in the 1973 Yom Kippur Wall.
Some bereaved Israelis are sending letters to the prime minister and the Shalits, expressing their opposition to any deal that will result in the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Hamas in the meantime continues to fire rockets into southern Israel and many Israelis are angry that Operation Case Lead was ended prematurely, insisting that Hamas was about to fall and if the IDF was permitted to continue advancing, Shalit’s release could have been reached without contemplating yet another Israeli release of mass murderers.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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One Response
Before transferring over to the Hamas murderers 1000 terrorists with blood on their hand, have the RedCross/EU see & speak to Gilad Shalit or else the exact same situation that occured with our soldiers from the Golan will occur again.