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Shalit supporters demonstrating in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
 (Nir Kafri)
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ANALYSIS / Shalit has become the key to Mideast peace
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Gaza, Gilad Shalit 

Never before have so many senior officials dealt so long with the fate of a single captive soldier, a soldier that became the key to so many important moves.

Three years after the capture of Gilad Shalit, the international community has decided to turn the key in the lock of the Gaza siege. This is supposed to unlock the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, perhaps with the additional profit of a split between the more moderate Gaza Hamas with the more radical Damascus section. The idea to unilaterally disengage Shalit from Gaza and relocate him to Egypt is meant to inject new energy into the prisoner-exchange negotiations. A gesture by Hamas in allowing Shalit to meet with his parents in an Egyptian guest house is expected to put pressure on Israel - at home and abroad - to reciprocate by releasing prisoners and a more generous opening of the Gaza border crossings.

And that's just the begining. The Shalit deal is but a first move in an extensive and complex political process, and but one ingredient of the PR campaign that will accompany it. President Obama's strategy of politics-and-PR was backed by the rest of the Quartet last week, as Russia, the EU and the UN gave him their blessing to revive the spirit of the 1991 Madrid conference. Just like 18 years ago, the U.S. wishes to move the Middle East peace process on two parallel tracks. The first is bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel, Syrian and Lebanon. The other is multilateral talks between Israel and the members of the Arab League.
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hinted in the Wall Street Journal last week that the Arab states are prepared to begin normalizing relations with Israel without waiting for a withdrawal from the occupied territories - as stipulated in the Arab peace initiative. But it is Israel that needs to make the first crucial step - an unequivocal commitment to freeze all construction in the settlements.

The Arabs have learned that since the Madrid conference, Israel has tripled the number of settlers in the West Bank. The conditioning of normalization on construction freeze is the explanation for Obama's insistence about national growth.

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  • Shalit deal / No veto for Israel or Hamas
  • Report: Arab sources also say Shalit to be handed over to Egypt soon
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      1.   Shalit release 04:24  |  Hilda 28/06/09
      2.   If so, be sure Syria and Iran are blocking it. 05:03  |  Fortuna Benmayor 28/06/09
      3.   shalit...key to peace 05:13  |  abraham cohen 28/06/09
      4.   the key to peace 07:23  |  rm 28/06/09
      5.   Can they sell Jones/Blair Plan 08:21  |  Reid 28/06/09
      6.   Just ridiculous 09:04  |  Myriam 28/06/09
      7.   Bull#@%t! The key is Hamas and Arab Acceptance of Israel 09:38  |  B`galil 28/06/09
      8.   Nonsense! Shalit isn`t the key, just a pawn. 10:04  |  Gray 28/06/09
      9.   @Abraham: Right! Eldar is mistaking propaganda for reality 10:20  |  Gray 28/06/09
      10.   # 1 - Hilda 12:18  |  Roy 28/06/09
      11.   Naive 12:19  |  rob 28/06/09
      12.   Question for Myriam 13:23  |  Learned Thinker 28/06/09
      13.   Gilad 13:34  |  zznhl 28/06/09
      14.   A breakthough possible? 15:26  |  Natallie Durson 28/06/09
      15.   Settlement Freeze necessary but not sufficient 17:08  |  Tom C 28/06/09
      16.   a thousand and one excuses 17:39  |  Dan 28/06/09
      17.   to Hilda 20:00  |  GA 28/06/09
      18.   #1 Hilda, I fully agree with your observation.The Hamas jailers 21:34  |  Israeli observer 28/06/09
      19.   #15 tc Olmerts so called offer was made at the last minute 21:50  |  Labhras 28/06/09
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