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Last update - 23:00 04/10/2009
Last woman Palestinian prisoner freed in Shalit video swap
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Gilad Shalit, Hamas 

Israel freed a Palestinian woman prisoner to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the last of 20 it has swapped for a videotape that provided the first visible evidence that abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive.

Rawda Habib was taken to the coastal territory in a Red Cross vehicle, then driven to the offices of Gaza's Hamas Islamist leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh said the prisoner releases suggested there was progress toward a deal to free Shalit, who has been in Palestinian captivity since a 2006 cross-border raid from Gaza.
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"We view with relief the serious movement in the prisoner swap file," Haniyeh said. "We stress that we will not abandon our responsibility towards our male and female prisoners."

The German- and Egyptian-mediated swap had stirred expectations that a deal could soon be reached to release Shalit in exchange for a wider Israeli prisoner amnesty, but officials on both sides said there was still some hard bargaining ahead.

Saed was arrested in 2007 while crossing the Gaza-Israel border. She had cited medical reasons for wanting to enter Israel, which accused her of plotting a suicide bombing.

Israel freed 19 other Palestinian inmates on Friday then received the two-minute tape of Shalit, who looked healthy and sounded coherent. In a proof-of-life gesture by Hamas, he held up a copy of an Arabic-language newspaper dated Sept. 14.

For Shalit's release, Hamas has demanded that Israel free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, including many jailed for involvement in suicide bombings and lethal shootings. All told, more than 10,000 Palestinians are incarcerated in Israel.

Report: Dispute over Israeli Arab prisoners stalling Shalit deal

The London-based pan Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday that a dispute over the release of Israeli Arab and East Jerusalem prisoners as delaying the conclusion of a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas aimed at securing Shalit's release.

According to the report, Hamas is insisting that Israel release most of the prisoners from East Jerusalem as well as those who are Israeli citizens, since the vast majority of them have been jailed for a long time, and some of them even belong to Hamas.

However, Israel has refused to release these prisoners, saying that releasing Israeli citizens would create a dangerous precedent.


The newspaper further reported that the German mediator accompanying the swap talks has suggested replacing these prisoners with Arab prisoners, but Hamas rejected the proposal.

However, the report continued, Israel has agreed to release all the prisoners on Hamas' list who are from Gaza and the West Bank, among them Hamas military commanders. Hamas, for its part, has agreed to deport some of these prisoners to Arab nations and to Europe.

'Israel knows exactly where Shalit is held'

In a separate story, Asharq al-Awsat quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying that Israel knows exactly where Shalit is being held captive, and that the location is under constant Israeli surveillance.

According to the report, the official said that if Israel so desired it could take the risk and storm the place, but the fear that Shalit might get hurt is preventing Israel from launching such an operation.

Hamas is aware of the fact that Israel knows where Shalit is held, the paper reported, and has consequently surrounded the location with explosives. Hamas has also issued a directive to kill Shalit if an Israeli attack is sensed, the paper said.

The paper said these remarks were made during an informal discussion surrounding the prisoner exchange talks.

Asharq al-Awsat further reported that one of the individuals present in the discussion said "Since we knew exactly where the secret Iranian nuclear reactor was before any Western intelligence body, and we knew about the Syrian reactor, is it logical that we wouldn't know where Shalit is?"

"We know where he is, but don't want to repeat the scenario of the evacuation of the soldier Nachshon Wachsman," he said. Wachsman was kidnapped by Hamas in 1994, and was killed during an Israeli attempt to rescue him.

On Friday, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said that Shalit will be set free within weeks or two months at most, suggesting that the Islamic group might show greater flexibility in upcoming negotiations.

Israeli officials said Friday's completion of a swap of 20 female Palestinian prisoners for a recent videotape of Shalit was the first stage in a bigger effort by Israel, Hamas and German mediators.

In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel Zahar said his organization seeks to wrap up negotiations as soon as possible.

Related articles:
  • Hamas: Shalit to go free within weeks, two months at most
  • Who are the Palestinian prisoners freed for Shalit video?
  • Complete the exchange
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