Hamas Official: “Swap-deal Reached An Advanced State”

Wednesday December 02, 2009 12:59 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

A senior Hamas official stated Tuesday that a prisoner-swap deal between Israel and Hamas managed to reached an advanced level that requires both sides to make decisive and difficult decisions.

Gilad Shalit - Wikipedia

Meanwhile, the family of the prisoner-of-war, Gilad Shalit, continued their campaign to convince Israeli government ministers to vote for the deal when it is presented to the cabinet.

This happened while bereaved families in Israel said that they would protest the decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice after is rejected their appeal to publish the names of the Palestinian detainees who would be freed.

They said that they would flood the State Prosecutors’ Office with letters of appeal against the decision. They also said that would call on members of Knesset to extend the 48-hour period which was allotted by the state for public debate the deal.

The Israeli army first decided to censor the list and the court decided not to overturn the decision.

Meanwhile, a Hamas official stated that both Hamas and Israel agreed during indirect talks on the names of 400 detainees who would be freed under the deal, and that the talks are currently focused on 50 additional names.

The the Al Hayat Arab newspaper in London that Israel is still rejecting the release of some detainees demanded by Hamas. Israel is also rejecting to release three female detainees identified as, Amna Mona from Jerusalem,
Ahlam Al Tamimi from Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah, and Qahera Al Saady from Jenin. Israeli claims that the three detained women played essential roles in attack that led to the death of Israelis.

Talks on the release of Fateh’s Central Committee member, Marwan Barghouthi, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Ahmad Saadat, and a number of leaders of Hamas’ armed wing, are still ongoing amidst Israeli rejections to release them.

Some of Hamas’ armed wing members the movement is demanded to be freed are Ibrahim Hamed, Abdullah Al Barghouthi, Abbas Al Sayyid, Hasan Salama and Jamal Abu Al Haija.

Also, negotiations are ongoing on Arab detainees and detainees who carry Israeli ID cards. The Hamas official stated that some progress was made on the release of some Jerusalem detainees as Israel agreed to release 17 detainees from the city.

Yet, Israel insists on deporting 130 detainees while Hamas is rejecting the issue. A senior Hamas official said the issue of deporting the detainees depends on the detainees themselves and added that prisoner-swap talks are ongoing under extensive German mediation.

palestine | prisoners | news report saed at imemc dot org