Netanyahu: 3 months pass with no Hamas response to Shalit deal
During Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, prime minister says he has waited three months for Hamas response to Shalit deal. 'We will release murderers, but not to any location,' Netanyahu says
The negotiations for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit seem to be deadlocked. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he has been waiting for three months for a Hamas response to the deal. According to him, he is willing to release murderers, but not to locations from where they will easily be able to repeat their offenses.
During a discussion in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu said, "The German mediator went between us and Hamas. We told him that we are willing to release prisoners in order to bring Gilad home safe and sound, but in such a way that that the problems with the Jibril and Tannenbaum deals won't be repeated when the released prisoners afterwards murdered Israelis."
Regarding the location to which the prisoners may be released, the prime minister said, "We will not agree that dangerous released prisoners reach places from which Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, or Raanana are easily reached. They will be released in order to bring back Gilad, but not to places from which it is easy to embark on murders. These are our principles."
However, Netanyahu noted, "Three months have gone by, and we haven't received a response from Hamas. We are waiting for Hamas' response."
Hamas strongman quits
The negotiation team lost one of its leading figures when Mahmoud al-Zahar announced his resignation from the talks for the release of the captured soldier.
In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, Zahar said that after an agreement was reached in December, both parties backtracked and refused to sign the deal, despite the many efforts he invested in persuading the Hamas leadership in Damascus.
"I am not willing to lead negotiations anymore," Zahar told the Der Spiegel reporter who met with him in his home in Gaza. The Hamas man said that a prisoner swap deal had been drafted and was ready for singing ahead of Christmas, 2009.
Zahar said the details of the deal were even approved by Israeli negotiator Hagai Hadas. He said all that was left was "to sign it all".
Zahar had traveled to Damascus to persuade Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal to sign the draft, and said this was no easy task, as the Hamas leadership in Damascus holds a tougher stance than the organization's heads in Gaza.
Gilad Shalit was captured to the Gaza Strip 1,346 days ago.
