Israel Matzav

Israel frees third Hamas 'official' in the last week

Israel has freed its third Hamas 'official' in the last week in what is apparently a series of 'confidence building measures' for an upcoming exchange of hundreds of terrorists with blood on their hands in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The Hamas 'official,' Issa Ja'bari, had served as the minister for local government in the Hamas 'cabinet' and was among those arrested shortly after Shalit was kidnapped in June 2006. The Prime Minister's Office denies there is any connection to Shalit.

Ja'bari is the third Hamas representative to be released from Israeli jail in the past week, after Omar Abdel Razzak, who served as finance minister in the Hamas government, and Muna Mansour, a Hamas legislator.

Abdel Razzak was also arrested nearly two years ago, while Mansour was arrested last month in Nablus.

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah did not rule out the possibility that the release of the three Hamas representatives was part of a "secret deal" between Israel and Hamas.

"We don't believe that the three were released by coincidence," the officials told The Jerusalem Post. "Apparently they were released to pave the way for agreement on a prisoner exchange."

An official in the Prime Minister's Office said that the release of the Hamas legislators was not connected to any deal for Schalit.

Rather, the official said, without knowing the specifics of the individual cases, it was likely that the legislators simply finished their prison terms. "That also happens from time to time," the official added.

The PA officials said that contrary to Hamas's assertions, the Islamist movement was continuing to hold indirect talks with Israel on the release of Schalit. "Hamas is lying when it says that it's not conducting negotiations with Israel," they said. "They are talking to Israel through the Egyptians and other Arab parties."

A senior Hamas official in Gaza City welcomed the release of the Hamas representatives. However, he would neither confirm nor deny reports about secret negotiations with Israel.

"Undoubtedly, the release of the Hamas prisoners will create a better atmosphere for negotiations to reach a prisoner exchange," the Hamas official told the Post. "But I can't tell you if this move is linked to the ongoing Egyptian efforts to reach a prisoner swap agreement."

Osama al-Mazini, a top Hamas official who serves as a spokesman on the Schalit issue, said there would be no progress until Israel fulfilled all its commitments under June's cease-fire agreement.

"We in Hamas are not children to be duped," he said. "When Hamas signs an agreement, it abides by it. But the Israelis want to deal with us the same way they have been dealing with Mahmoud Abbas's Authority. They want the Palestinians to honor all the agreements while they themselves don't abide by them."

Mazini added that Hamas was now seeking guarantees that any agreement it reached with Israel in the future would be fully honored.

I hope none of you is foolish enough to believe that 'official from the Prime Minister's office.' The Hamas 'officials' were never charged or tried and were always being held as bargaining chips to trade for Shalit. Do you mean to tell me that Mansour was arrested, charged, tried, convicted and served his sentence all within a month? No way!

As to Hamas' assertions, there specifically never was an agreement signed with them over the 'truce.' There were 'understandings' with Egypt, and Hamas and its terrorist cohorts have violated every one of them.

So yes, a deal is in the works to release Shalit. How many more Israelis will - God forbid - die, and how many more Israeli soldiers will be kidnapped and held hostage for years on end as a result of the government's desperate deal, remain to be seen.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:50 AM