As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought to dispel expectations that a deal for a swap that would lead to the release of Gilad Shalit was not imminent, the London-based Arabic ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Monday morning the reason for the delay: Hamas is demanding that Israel release terrorists with Israeli citizenship, along with hundreds of terrorists from Palestinian Authority controlled areas.
Hamas sources quoted in the article say that the demand is not a new one, but was raised at the beginning of negotiations. Last April, top Hamas terrorist Mahmoud a-Zahar said that the negotiations over Shalit were stalled because "we informed the Israelis that we do not differentiate between the prisoners of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, or the '1948 Arabs.'" Israel has so far refused to comply with this demand, the report said.