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A Palestinian wearing symbolic chains during a protest to demand the release of prisoners held by Israel. (AP)
Last update - 00:59 11/04/2007
PMO: Israel 'disappointed' by list for prisoner swap
By Amiram Barkat and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies

Israel is disappointed with the list of prisoners Palestinians are demanding in exchange for captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, according to a statement released Tuesday by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office.

The statement said Olmert convened a meeting of senior officials and intelligence commanders Tuesday afternoon to discuss the list, and expressed disappointment and reservations. It also said there has been some progress in negotiations, but the road to completion is still long.

Tuesday's deliberations were in preparation for the upcoming weekly cabinet meeting, scheduled for Sunday, during which ministers will debate a proposal to establish a committee to determine criteria for a prisoner swap deal.

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One of the issues up for debate during the meeting is a possible amendment to the definition of a "terrorist with blood on his hands."

A Palestinian Web site affiliated with Hamas has published the names of some of the prisoners that Hamas is likely to request as part of the deal to free Shalit. The list includes several men who masterminded some of the most serious suicide bombings of the last decade.

Among the names are Abdullah Barghouti, a senior leader in Hamas' military wing, who was responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, Yihye Sanwar, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, and Hassan Salameh, who helped plan the wave of 1996 bombings in Israel that followed the assassination of the "engineer," Yihye Ayash.

Also listed was Fuad Shubaki, the Yasser Arafat aide who was responsible for financing the Karine A arms-smuggling ship.

The Web site, affiliated with Hamas, introduces a list consisting of 45 people whom it says Hamas demands be released.

Topping the list, the website names senior West Bank Hamas official Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Palestinian member of parliament.

The list further names Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat, who ordered the 2001 assassination of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi, and Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, sentenced to five life sentences for involvement in terror attacks against Israelis.

Next on the list are: Sheikh Abd al-Halk al-Natsha, of Hamas' West Bank political leadership; Rouhi Mashaha, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, who has been in prison for over 20 years; Nail Barghouti, one of the masterminds of the 2002 bombings, and Bassam A-Sa'adi, a top Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank.

Many of the names on the list are of prisoners who have been in Israeli jails for many years, some dating back to the late 1970's or early 1980's.

Palestinians involved in the negotiations have said that Israel has agreed to release prisoners "with blood on their hands," as well as veteran prisoners whose sentences began before 1993 signing of the Oslo peace accords, and political leaders such as Marwan Barghouti.

The sources said that Israel would release some 1,000 prisoners in three stages. In the first stage, 450 would be released and Shalit would be transferred to Egyptian authorities. The rest of the prisoners would be transferred in the second stage, and in the third stage, Shalit would be returned home.

Cairo has acted as a mediator in the prolonged negotiations for the release of Shalit, held since last June, when a joint force of Hamas and other armed groups attacked Shalit's base on Israeli soil just outside the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials have confirmed that progress has been reached in negotiations to bring about Shalit's release, but cautioned that the path to resolving the negotiations was still long.

The Shalit family, as well as the families of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured in July by Hezbollah, met Tuesday with secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, in Jerusalem.

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  1.   Suicide 23:29  |  Josh 09/04/07
  2.   TERRORIST PRISONERS MUST NOT BE RELEASED 23:33  |  * BEN JABO 09/04/07
  3.   Israel has lost its compass and brings disaster upon all of us 23:40  |  Absolute Sweden 09/04/07
  4.   SO ARABS AGREE 1 JEW IS WORTH 1000 ARABS 23:40  |  paul harris 09/04/07
  5.   Insane, Insane, Insane 23:41  |  Dyinglikeflies 09/04/07
  6.   It just doesnt pay to take these guys alive 23:46  |  SLAVO 09/04/07
  7.   AT LAST SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL 23:46  |  sara 09/04/07
  8.   Tears for fears... 23:51  |  Citizen 09/04/07
  9.   IS SHALIT`S BLOOD REDDER THAN, VICTIMS THESE MURDERERS WILL KILL? 23:55  |  Ben 09/04/07
  10.   Give them and take Them 00:04  |  Larry 10/04/07
  11.   GLORIOUS!!!it`s about time 00:17  |  nico marron 10/04/07
  12.   So, what happened to .......... 00:19  |  Lynn 10/04/07
  13.   NO WAY! 00:25  |  rs 10/04/07
  14.   NO PAUL HARRIS 00:26  |  nmb 10/04/07
  15.   Israel needs to set the ground rules not the terrorists 00:29  |  Chick Corea 10/04/07
  16.   #7sara-THEY THEMSELVES DON`T DENY THEIR ACTIONS, JUST THEIR GUILT 00:42  |  Ben 10/04/07
  17.   Take NO Prisoners 00:49  |  r 10/04/07
  18.   This is for debate by Israelis 00:53  |  Chris Linthwaite 10/04/07
  19.   wow 00:56  |  Paul Freedman 10/04/07
  20.   Forgive and forget is good! 01:00  |  Omran 10/04/07
  21.   Prisoner release 01:03  |  israel letzter 10/04/07
  22.   Secretly Implant Transmitters in Their Bodies 01:06  |  Bash`em 10/04/07
  23.   Pick one prisoner to swap 01:09  |  Micha 10/04/07
  24.   sara...why are you supporting .... 01:24  |  maria 10/04/07
  25.   I say that Isreal should release them 01:26  |  Muslim in Saudi 10/04/07
  26.   why do palestinian terrorists or jihadists cover.... 01:27  |  maria 10/04/07
  27.   Israeli jails - so bad? 01:47  |  Sarah 10/04/07
  28.   Time to say NO TO PALs TERROR 01:48  |  GF 10/04/07
  29.   #7 Sara - your light is an illusion 01:50  |  * BEN JABO 10/04/07
  30.   What happened to the humanitarian gestures of Hamas? 01:56  |  William 10/04/07
  31.   #4 01:57  |  Yigal 10/04/07
  32.   #14 Transmitters - great idea 02:23  |  * BEN JABO 10/04/07
  33.   #13 Omran 02:45  |  * BEN JABO 10/04/07
  34.   29 BEN JABO,racist scum like you don`t need any 03:46  |  10/04/07
  35.   29 BEN JABO,racist scum like you don`t need any links 03:50  |  sara 10/04/07
  36.   Haaretz`s Moronic Columnists Eager to Appe 03:52  |  Tod Zuckerman 10/04/07
  37.   18 CHRIS LINTHWAITE,your judgment not good 04:16  |  sara 10/04/07
  38.   22 BASH `EM,who is the low life,you or them ? 04:19  |  martha 10/04/07
  39.   # 38 martha 05:12  |  Lynn 10/04/07
  40.   36 TOD ZUCKERMAN,grow up 05:15  |  mildred 10/04/07
  41.   18 CHRIS LINTHWAITE,from one progressive to another 05:19  |  alan 10/04/07
  42.   and the stupidest racist award goes to (drum roll) PAUL HARRIS 05:45  |  anti-racist 10/04/07
  43.   24 MARIA,why are you so sure they are "terrorists" 05:51  |  sara 10/04/07
  44.   # 12 lynn, the real question is... 05:55  |  eric 10/04/07
  45.   # 26 no maria, they do it because 06:19  |  eric 10/04/07
  46.   Mildred 06:30  |  Connie 10/04/07
  47.   Hamas, the "political" force heading the PA government is behind 06:39  |  Nadav 10/04/07
  48.   # 27 but sarah, if that`s true; how bad is it? 06:43  |  eric 10/04/07
  49.   Sara, relax... 06:46  |  Oddvark 10/04/07
  50.   Lets swap Shalit for Olmert and Peretz 06:52  |  Israel Israeli 10/04/07
  51.   # 35 seems like sara has got ben jabo`s number 07:02  |  eric 10/04/07
  52.   Do not release terrorists who will commit more terror. 07:16  |  Marwan مروان خوري 10/04/07
  53.   # 4 there you go, paul... 07:24  |  eric 10/04/07
  54.   Eric part 1 07:44  |  Connie 10/04/07
  55.   Terrorist list 07:46  |  howiej 10/04/07
  56.   Eric part2 07:49  |  Connie 10/04/07
  57.   Israel owes it to victims` families to never release this scum! 08:08  |  Roni 10/04/07
  58.   To all the Israel bashers 09:01  |  Hastaroth 10/04/07
  59.   Make the right decision,Olmert!!! 09:17  |  Willy 10/04/07
  60.   Invasion is what is required. 09:29  |  Zuriel 10/04/07
  61.   How much more damage ..... 09:30  |  Annoyed 10/04/07
  62.   43: Sarah, because of those pesky things called "facts" 09:33  |  David Teich 10/04/07
  63.   connie, with all due respect... 09:42  |  eric 10/04/07
  64.   #58 Hastoroth 09:49  |  Willy 10/04/07
  65.   #42 THANK YOU WHOEVER YOU ARE HIDING 09:50  |  paul harris 10/04/07
  66.   sara#29 09:51  |  mel 10/04/07
  67.   Stop the game with Hamas. 10:03  |  Vital 10/04/07
  68.   Hundreds of innocent children, Sara, women, men and the elderly.. 10:04  |  Nadav 10/04/07
  69.   ISRAEL WILL SET THEM FREE 10:05  |  indrajaya 10/04/07
  70.   One for one 10:29  |  paul 10/04/07
  71.   That desperado, Marwan Barghouti 10:38  |  Clickfool 10/04/07
  72.   # 65 nadav 10:49  |  eric 10/04/07
  73.   Lets be honest Israel has its own motivations for releasing 10:57  |  British academic 10/04/07
  74.   HAARETZ PRINT MY POSTS!!!!!!!!! 10:59  |  alonitzafoni 10/04/07
  75.   to nmb #14 11:00  |  Marcelo 10/04/07
  76.   if they are realesed 11:02  |  Alon Fisher 10/04/07
  77.   #73 an anomaly an academic who doesnt KNOW LOSE FROM LOOSE 11:13  |  paul harris 10/04/07
  78.   $63 Eric 11:18  |  Willy 10/04/07
  79.   For Alonitzafoni # 74 11:19  |  Clickfool 10/04/07
  80.   nmb - you should practice what you preach 11:20  |  ChanahS 10/04/07
  81.   It is not a question of shame, Eric. I am deeply sorry, and I say 11:22  |  Nadav 10/04/07
  82.   Wishful thinking and reality in the ME 11:29  |  Swiss (Dino) 10/04/07
  83.   #52 Marwan 11:39  |  Itsik 10/04/07
  84.   Hamas`s values 11:40  |  ScotGuy