Hamas is natuurlijk pissig dat er gevangenen vrij komen waar het niet de hand in heeft gehad, en dat Israël zich nog niet bij haar eisen wat betreft de te ruilen gevangenen voor Shalit heeft neergelegd. Het valt te hopen dat Israël zijn poot stijf houdt en zelf met eigen eisen komt, ook al kan het dan nog wel even duren voordat Shalit vrijkomt....
RP
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Last update - 11:49 20/08/2008
Hamas threatens to turn Shalit into 'second Ron Arad'
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1013637.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1013637.html
Hamas has warned that abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit will face a fate as uncertain as that of missing airman Ron Arad if Israel continues to tarry on negotiations for a prisoner exchange, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Gaza-based militant group made the comment on Wednesday, during an exercise simulating the capture of Israeli soldiers, the radio said.
Egypt has been mediating negotiations for the release of Shalit, who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip since he was snatched by militants in a 2006 cross-border raid.
Israel has received some signs of life from the missing soldier, but the negotiations have for the most part been kept mum.
Israel this week agreed to release 199 Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The prisoners slated for release include two with "blood on their hands," convicted of carrying out terror attacks in Israel.
Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet on Monday that the release of these prisoners "creates pressure on Hamas and is likely to accelerate the negotiations over Gilad Shalit."
However, he added, "the gesture will not make Hamas more flexible about its demands, because the organization sees that Israel is releasing prisoners with blood on their hands, which merely causes Hamas to harden its position."
According to a government source, Shin Bet representatives spoke in favor of the gesture to Abbas, on the grounds that it would pressure Hamas to conclude a deal for Shalit's return.
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