The Jewish Chronicle
Gilad Shalit: 'Media hampering swap deal'
Israeli premier Ehud Olmert has blamed the media campaign for the release of Gilad Shalit in hampering talks over a possible prisoner deal.
March 18, 2009 09:37
Israeli premier Ehud Olmert has blamed the media campaign for the release of Gilad Shalit in hampering talks over a possible prisoner deal.
March 18, 2009 09:37Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has blamed the intensive media campaign for the release of Gilad Shalit in hampering the talks over a possible prisoner deal.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli government announced that it had refused Hamas demands for the release of 450 senior terrorists, many of then sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
In a meeting between Mr Olmert and Aviva and Noam Shalit, the parents of the captured soldier, the Prime Minister told them that the emotional campaign they launched over the past two weeks, during which thousands of supporters visited the tent they had set up outside his official residence, had harmed Gilad's cause.
In a cabinet meeting convened to discuss the results of the Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo, commander of the IDF's Intelligence Department, Major General Amos Yadlin, said that public protest in Israel and "media spins" had emboldened Hamas to stick to its demands without making any concessions.
At the cabinet meeting, Israel's representatives to the talks, General Security Service (GSS) Chief, Yuval Diskin and Mr Olmert's personal envoy, Ofer Dekel, reported that Hamas had refused to budge from the entire list of prisoners it demanded in return for Gilad Shalit's freedom.
Israel had agreed to release 325 terrorists on the list, many of them convicted. The remaining 125 were those who according to the GSS assessment have unique knowledge and organizational skills and would have immediately assumed senior positions in the Hamas terror network.
In a statement after the cabinet meeting, Mr Olmert said that "we will not cease in our efforts but we have red-lines that we will not cross."
The Shalit family and their supporters angrily rebuffed the accusations that their campaign had harmed the negotiations. "Instead of delivering statements and explanations, why the efforts have failed," said Noam Shalit, "he (Olmert) should start acting vigourously and bring results."
Today (Friday) is a thousand days to the day that Gilad Shalit was taken prisoner in a Hamas raid on an IDF position near Kerem Shalom on the Israel-Gaza border.
Despite Mr Olmert's assurance that negotiations would go on until the last day of his government, it is now expected that the efforts to liberate Shalit will be the responsibility of the new Netanyahu government, which will be sworn in next week.
Mr Olmert instructed a ministerial group to deliver by Sunday a list of recommendations for putting pressure on Hamas, specifically worsening the conditions of the movement's prisoners in Israeli hands.