Israel Matzav

Iran paid Meshaal $50 million not to release Shalit

The government of Iran paid Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal $50 million not to permit the release of kidnapped IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit according to a report in the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth this morning (link in Hebrew).

According to the report, 'Western sources' say that a deal in principle to release Shalit in return for the release of 'hundreds' of 'Palestinian' prisoners terrorists was reached two months ago, but a few days later, a mission arrived from Iran and paid Meshaal $50 million to torpedo the deal. According to the report, after he received the money, Meshaal began to insist on the release of tens of 'tough prisoners' (usually the term that is used in Hebrew is those with 'blood on their hands' - that is not the term used this time, and I am not sure whether they mean prisoners who have murdered or something less than that).

According to the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan, around the same time, Syria began to express pessimism about the possibility of renewing peace negotiations with Israel, saying that the current Israeli government has been destroyed politically and militarily and is not capable of moving forward on the 'peace process.' They added that Israel has 'missed many opportunities' to renew 'peace talks' recently, that the Israeli public is becoming 'more extreme,' and therefore there is no hope for 'peace' under these conditions.

Meanwhile, speaking in Cairo, 'Palestinian Interior Minister' Said Siam denied that Hamas was under pressure from Syria to thwart any deal (that may even be true, since the pressure is coming from Iran), and said that Israel has thwarted any agreement by trying to get Shalit released 'for free.'

Israel has threatened not to let Siam return to the Gaza Strip.

Khaled Meshaal is scheduled to arrive in Cairo in the coming days to discuss issues related to Shalit that were raised by Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman during their meeting in Damascus last week.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:49 AM