Sheikh Naif Rajoub
Photo: AFP
Top Hamas figure Rajoub to be released from jail after 4-year term
Brother of senior Fatah member Jibril Rajoub was arrested in aftermath of Shalit kidnapping, sentenced to four years in prison; less than 10 senior Hamas figures who were detained at the time still locked up
Four years after he was arrested by Israel in response to the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, senior Hamas figure Sheikh Naif Rajoub is expected to be released on Sunday, Palestinian sources said.
Rajoub, a former minister for waqf affairs in the first Hamas government and senior Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament, was detained in June 2006 during a wave of arrests Israel conducted following Shalit's kidnapping.
Rajoub, the brother of senior Fatah member Jibril Rajoub, will be released after serving some 50 months in an Israeli prison, the sources said Saturday. With Rajoub's release, less than 10 out of more than 40 former Hamas ministers and parliament members who were arrested in the aftermath of the Shalit kidnapping will remain imprisoned in Israel.
About two months ago Israel released top Hamas figure Muhammad Abu Tir was released after serving a four-year prison sentence. Additional senior Hamas figures, including Palestinian Parliament Chairman Aziz Dweik, were freed shortly before Abu Tir's release, and nine more, including former Prisoner Affairs Minister Wasfi Kabha, were freed in September.
Negotiations for Shalit's release have been deadlocked for the past few months. On Thursday the soldier's parents published a new pamphlet containing a picture of their son in the form of a police missing persons notice. Instead of the word "missing," however, is the word "captive."
Other activities marking four years since the kidnapping (June 25, 2006) will include a 12-day trek from the Shalit family home in Mitzpe Hila to the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.
