Hamas officials say they have agreed to a prisoner swap deal that will free kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit before a formal truce is declared in Gaza – for the right price, but Syrian-based Khaled Mashaal contradicted them, insisting that a ceasefire must precede bringing the soldier back home.
The Arabic-language daily newspaper Al-Hayat on Tuesday published a report in which a Hamas official was quoted as saying that in return, Israel must meet the group's demands to release all of the terrorists on its list.
Among those is Marwan Barghouti, currently serving five life jail sentences for murder and who was re-elected in 2006 in absentia to the Palestinian Legislative Council, representing Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
The Hamas official quoted in the report claimed that Israel, which in the past has refused to release Barghouti, no longer has objections to freeing the terrorist mastermind.
Also on the list are the four top terrorists responsible for the Park Hotel bombing in Netanya, the attacks on the Sbarro pizzeria and Café Moment in Jerusalem, and the 2001 assassination of a government minister.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told journalists during a tour of the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem on Tuesday that he hopes "the issue will be concluded within a short amount of time." His spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment further on the matter later in the day, other than to say that the Security Cabinet would be meeting tomorrow.
"This matter will be one of the issues on the agenda," he stated.
Olmert informed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday that the issue of Shalit's release for Israel is paramount, pre-empting that of negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza. Stopping arms smuggling into Gaza came next on the list, followed by halting the rocket fire aimed at southern Israel from the region, he said.
Prime Minister Olmert convinced the Cabinet last June to accept a six-month ceasefire with Hamas by stating that the agreement would bring about Shalit's return to his home and family. Hamas broke the ceasefire from the first day, and no progress was made towards freeing the soldier, kidnapped nearly 1,000 days ago.
However, the outgoing prime minister said on Tuesday that he intends to ask the Security Cabinet on Wednesday to approve a proposal to condition another ceasefire after completing a deal for Shalit's release.
"I have insisted from Day One that there will be no ceasefire before Shalit is released," Olmert said during a visit to the south on Monday. "I said that we will not reopen the border crossings and assist Hamas so long as Gilad Shalit is in their brutal prison. When Gilad is home, we will be ready to discuss other matters."
His own policy the past several weeks has allowed the opening of Gaza crossings for dozens of trucks that cross daily with food, merchandise and medical supplies.
Mashaal, who crossed swords with Gaza-based Hamas leaders during Operation Cast Lead, insisted that the order of business will be a ceasefire before consummating an agreement on Shalit.
The Al Hayat newspaper reported that demands by Hamas for Israel to free all the terrorists on its list may still hit a snag because it maintains that the government still is opposed to releasing Ahmed Sa'adat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
It was Sa'adat who ordered the assassination of "Ghandi," former Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi, in October 2001.