According to statements made to BBC by Hamas official in Gaza Mahmoud a-Zahar, talks mediated talks between Israel and Hamas have broken down, adding the German mediator has absolved himself of additional responsibility in the ongoing talks.
Hamas has not shifted its position, placing the entire blame on the shoulders of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded during a press conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, stating Israel told the German mediator that if Hamas wants a deal, there will be one, and if not, there will be no deal.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
Maybe I’m just fantasizing but I really wish they would just send a team of their best hand picked commandos into Gaza and release Gilad Shalit like they did in 1976 in Entebbe. Forget about negotiating its not worth the cost of the phone calls. Besides if such an operation was successful it would shame Hamas badly & boost moral in Israel which can use a boost these days.
I doubt that Hamas was ever serious about releasing Gilad. Having a hostage protects them from being attacked and also as way to emotionally hurt Klal Yisroel. They also use it as a way to make Jews argue with each other about whether he should be traded for murderers. These things are more important to them than getting back their ‘brothers’. Typically they give the impression that they are interested in a trade and then back out at the last minute in order to get everyone’s hopes up. They have done this numerous times.
What they do not know is that Hashem has given them this idea so that we should cry out to Hashem for rachmim. This is similar to how Haman caused Klal Yisroel to do teshuva. If all of us would be mekabel to purify ourselves, to learn better, to daven better. Everybody knows that they can improve themselves in some way. If this will happen then Gilad would be released very soon and they will be shame faced.
As it it says in Tehilam 84: Hashem will not forsake his nation; He will not leave his heritage (Klal Yisroel).
In Tehilam 81 it says: If only my nation would listen to me, (if) Yisroel would go in my ways; almost instantly, I would stop their enemies and I would turn my hand to their tormenters.
It is all up to us. Please let’s join together to save him. If you could just leave a small comment saying that you will join in to help, it would be a tremendous chizuk to everyone else. It is not as hard as some might think.