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Last update - 10:49 13/08/2008
Barak: We must dedicate each day of Gaza calm to freeing Shalit
By Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Hezbollah, Israel, Ehud Barak 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters on Monday that Israel must utilize the relative calm afforded by the ceasefire deal with Hamas to press forward with a prisoner swap deal for abducted Israel Defense Forces corporal Gilad Shalit.

"I don't know how much longer the lull in the Gaza Strip will last but it has already been six weeks of quiet," Barak told journalists following a Labor Party campaign rally in Dimona. "We need to take advantage of each day of quiet left to advance the Shalit matter."

The former prime minister added that "hard decisions" would have to be made in order to clinch an exchange with Hamas, and that all contacts with the Islamist organization must be conducted far from the public eye. "There are hard decisions to be made, but it is our duty both as commanders and from a moral standpoint to undertake all possible courses of action so that Gilad returns home alive and well," Barak said.
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Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said the group is waiting to hear a response to its demands from Egyptian officials. If Hamas is satisfied by Cairo's reply, Zahar said it would be possible to conclude a deal for Shalit within one week.

Earlier Tuesday, Barak told IDF soldiers stationed on the Golan Heights that Israel is closely monitoring the strengthening of Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah.

"We're following closely the violations of the [regional] equilibrium by Hezbollah and Syria, and the strengthening beyond the fence," Barak told the troops, who were participating in a training exercise.

"It's not for nothing that we're training here," he added.

Barak went on to criticize an expected cut to the Defense Ministry budget, arguing that this is a luxury that Israel cannot allow itself.

"We live in a country in which security is made up not only of tanks and planes, but also of the fostering of excellence, education and welfare. In a country like ours, we do not have the luxury to harm the defense budget," Barak asserted.

After the conclusion of a prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah in July, the government has devoted a number of sessions to discussing the growing strength of the Shi'ite militia group against which Israel fought in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Last week, the security cabinet decided that Israel will hold Lebanon responsible for any attacks against Israel, in particular for any Hezbollah efforts to avenge the death of its military leader Imad Mughniyeh.

This decision represented a change in Israeli policy, after always firmly separating Hezbollah and the Lebanese government.



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