Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., January 07, 2008 Tevet 29, 5768 | | Israel Time: 12:52 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File Magazine
Marwan Barghouti. (Archive)
Last update - 21:54 05/01/2008
Vilnai: Israel should free Marwan Barghouti in swap for Shalit
By The Associated Press
Tags: Fatah, Hamas, Khaled Meshal 

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Saturday he would be willing to release Israel's most prominent Palestinian prisoner in exchange for captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

Vilnai became the latest high-ranking official to publicly support the release of Fatah/Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, despite the government's declared policy of not freeing prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis.

Barghouti, viewed as a potential successor to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is serving five consecutive life terms for masterminding the killing of four Israelis and a Greek monk in West Bank attacks. But he is the most popular leader among Palestinians and is widely regarded as the only figure able to unify rival Palestinian factions.
Advertisement

Vilnai noted that Israel has released militants involved in attacks on Israelis in the past, despite its declared policy of not freeing prisoners with blood on their hands.

"I am willing to do much to free a soldier like Gilad so he can return home," Vilnai told Israel Radio. Asked if that would include freeing Barghouti, he replied, "Marwan Barghouti apparently will be on the list of prisoners whose release the Palestinians would demand in exchange for Shalit, and if necessary, him, too."

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, and Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra, a former deputy chief of the Shin Bet security service, have also endorsed freeing Barghouti.

Barghouti favors the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but became a leader of the Palestinian uprising against Israel that erupted in late 2000.

Palestinian officials have repeatedly called for the release of Barghouti, who has remained a prominent player in Palestinian politics from behind bars. The government repeatedly has ruled out the request.

But it is considering easing its criteria for freeing some of the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners it holds in an effort to win freedom for Shalit. The main proposal on the table is to release Palestinians involved in failed attacks on Israelis.

Meshal: No compromise on terms for Shalit deal

The exiled leader of the militant Palestinian Hamas group said Friday that Shalit, captured by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006, will not be released without the freedom of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

"The matter of the prisoners bloodies our heart," Khaled Meshal said, indicating that it was a painful topic, and added that Gilad Shalit will not be released "unless our prisoners are released." He did not give further details.

Regarding European offers to mediate a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, Meshal said that "some Europeans have offered us to meet indirectly with Israelis to discuss a truce and we told them no and one thousands nos."

He did not say what European country made the offer.

Speaking at a rally in Damascus marking Hamas' 20th anniversary, Meshal also called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold unconditional talks with Hamas.

"I urge my brothers in Fatah to solve the Palestinian crisis and restore national unity through unconditional dialogue," Meshal said. "We can manage the conflict with Israel together, without dropping the option of resistance," he added.

On Monday, Abbas took a conciliatory tone toward his Hamas rivals in a major policy speech, calling for a new page in relations between the bitter enemies. Fatah and Hamas have been at odds since Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006. Those differences boiled over into open warfare that peaked with Hamas' driving Fatah out of Gaza in June.

Meshal said that Abbas' Palestinian Authority has made reconciliation talks conditional on a number of concessions from Hamas including an apology.

"We are ready for a dialogue without conditions. Our hands are extended and all matters should be put on the table including elections," Meshal said.

Meshal said that a recent U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in
Annapolis, Maryland had not stopped the building of settlements in Palestinian territories nor improved the lives of Palestinians noting that 560 Israeli checkpoints are still in place.

He added that this leaves his people with no choice but to fight.

"Give our people another alternative. As long as the horizons are closed and there are no other alternatives then there is nothing our people can do other than resistance," he said.

He added that the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad must go and "all (Palestinian) forces must prevent this government from gambling with the interests of the Palestinian people."

People coming to attend the rally, held at a basketball stadium, had to pass through metal detectors before being hand searched by unarmed Hamas members.

The stadium was decorated with posters of Palestinian leaders including one of the late Yasser Arafat.

The rally was attended by Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shalah, as well as the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command Ahmed Jibril.

"Resistance is our strategic choice until liberation and the return of
refugees," read a banner hanged in the stadium.

Meshal said that since Hamas was founded in the late 1980s, attacks against Israel have improved.

"It (Hamas) added momentum to the resistance with its special operations
whether martyrdom (suicide) operations, its performance, steadfastness or
rockets," Meshal said referring to the IDF siege against Gaza and the Qassam rockets regularly fired at Israeli towns.

On Thursday, Palestinians militants fired a Katyusha rocket at the Israeli city of Ashkelon, a weapon with longer range and more potential for damage than the Qassam rockets militants regularly aim at southern Israel.

"Today, Israel declares that Gaza's primitive rockets are forming a balance of terror and they feared that they will reach Ashkelon. Yesterday, brother Ahmed Jibril inflamed (the situation) and made them reach Ashkelon," Meshal said.

He later added that it was not Jibril's PFLP-GC that fired the rocket but rather his students.

Related articles:
  • Analysis: Katyusha in Ashkelon / The other side is cautious too
  • PA forces uncover Hamas explosives lab in Nablus
  • Nine Gazans killed by IDF fire; Katyusha hits north Ashkelon
  • Two Gazans killed as clashes between Fatah, Hamas continue
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Virtual victory
    TV series offers detailed reenactments of IAF's battles.
    Surviving the race
    Neither Clinton nor Romney can afford to lose in N.H.
      1.   No surprises here 00:06  |  Adrian de Klerk 05/01/08
      2.   Hudna Schmudna 00:10  |  Avrum 05/01/08
      3.   He is in Syria - Easy for him to talk 00:21  |  GPS 05/01/08
      4.   This after all the rumors of "Hudna`, well, well Arab liars 00:25  |  Genuine Tosefta 05/01/08
      5.   Hamas shows its true colours - their patholgiclal hate of Israel 00:32  |  Marwan مروان خوري 05/01/08
      6.   Equality 00:32  |  H 05/01/08
      7.   Khalid Mishal is a true leader and a noble one! All his speeches 00:32  |  lakshmi 05/01/08
      8.   Hamas is right! 00:34  |  Dutch Dirk 05/01/08
      9.   the Palestinian people have no choice other than resistance. 00:41  |  akiva (zionist) 05/01/08
      10.   Israel vs Hamastan 00:45  |  Brod 05/01/08
      11.   9. Israhels redeemer akiva? 00:48  |  muslim 05/01/08
      12.   Marwan...you can bet on that one 00:49  |  Lynn 05/01/08
      13.   re: Avrum 00:58  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      14.   "No Justice No Peace" 01:00  |  lydia 05/01/08
      15.   #7 Lakshmi and #8 Dutch. There is nothing noble about either 01:08  |  Marwan مروان خوري 05/01/08
      16.   Remind me: what are the Palestinians resisting? 01:45  |  Richard S 05/01/08
      17.   muslim, allah`s subservient 01:46  |  akiva (zionist) 05/01/08
      18.   the Arab lie: Israel will strip Israeli Arabs of their rights 01:50  |  Richard S 05/01/08
      19.   17. akiva the anti-christ aposle you are just to modest 01:54  |  muslim 05/01/08
      20.   no compromise 02:04  |  Shmuelshachor 05/01/08
      21.   Meshal: No compromise 02:08  |  E 05/01/08
      22.   Israel, put Arabs in concentration Camps 02:31  |  Genuine Tosefta 05/01/08
      23.   So finally, Israel can forget a truce.! 02:39  |  Stephen. 05/01/08
      24.   Hamas, people are laughing at you 02:56  |  Conroy 05/01/08
      25.   Peaceful co-existance is the answer. 03:04  |  Phillipe T. Lucre 05/01/08
      26.   Lydia - Q and A 03:07  |  Giora 05/01/08
      27.   Funny...real funny 03:20  |  David Shemo 05/01/08
      28.   blah blah blah Political Showmanship 03:22  |  Pablo B 05/01/08
      29.   Noble Arab liars practice Al Takiya and lack leadership 03:31  |  Genuine Toseftat 05/01/08
      30.   15 Marwan,don`t know what your sources are! 03:32  |  lakshmi 05/01/08
      31.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 1 03:44  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      32.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 2 03:46  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      33.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 4 03:49  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      34.   Lakshmi 03:58  |  Larry 05/01/08
      35.   meshall 04:10  |  geroge 05/01/08
      36.   Qur`an and terror 04:10  |  Joseph E . 05/01/08
      37.   #27 Say David Shermo 04:13  |  ballistic 05/01/08
      38.   #7 Lakshmi 04:26  |  * BEN JABO 05/01/08
      39.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 3 second try 04:55  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      40.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 3 third try 05:01  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      41.   re: Alberto 05:26  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      42.   Keep Fighting Hamas, You Lose Well 05:29  |  dyinglikeflies 05/01/08
      43.   re: Alberto 05:33  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      44.   re: Alberto 05:39  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      45.   Cheap talker 05:45  |  Microphone 05/01/08
      46.   re: Alberto 05:45  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      47.   re#13 to Paulo (Lisbon) part 3 fourth try 06:07  |  Alberto Cohen 05/01/08
      48.   Israel doesn`t need Hamas recognition 07:03  |  Conroy 05/01/08
      49.   re: Alberto 07:16  |  Paulo 05/01/08
      50.   MESHAL LIES - HE HAD SAID HAMAS DIDN`T HAVE SHALIT 07:25  |  * BEN JABO 05/01/08
      51.   Lackshmi, noble my arse 08:33  |  Your grandma 05/01/08
      52.   No longer 3 NO`s. Now it is a thousand NO`s. 09:04  |  S 05/01/08
      53.   Meshal 09:10  |  Esther 05/01/08
      54.   Israel is a state in denial 09:24  |  Joe 05/01/08
      55.   Abbas cozying up again with Hamas... 10:18  |  Fortuna Benmayor 05/01/08
      56.   # 16 Richard S. A reminder for you. 10:23  |  Nick Ferriman 05/01/08
      57.   This is an absolute statement of the truth 10:26  |  Clickfool 05/01/08
      58.   # 48 Conroy 10:34  |  Nick Ferriman 05/01/08
      59.   #53 Esther 10:55  |  Joe 05/01/08
      60.   # 54. Meshal The False Idol.! 11:21  |  Stephen. 05/01/08
      61.   # 55. Fortuna. Bed fellows indeed. ( Amigitos) 11:30  |  Stephen. 05/01/08
      62.   Ben jabo & the other zionists,I saw the interview which Mishal 11:36  |  lakshmi 05/01/08
      63.   # 57 Click................! 11:37  |  Stephen. 05/01/08
      64.   What remains of character 11:41  |  christoph 05/01/08
      65.   help me Tosefta !!! 12:35  |  Goldenberg 05/01/08
      66.   To 62 Lakshmi. Interviews with Meshal 13:14  |  Altalena 05/01/08
      67.   The Qassam and Katyusha firing 13:37  |  Kris 05/01/08
      68.   Esther #53 13:54  |  hat 05/01/08
      69.   Don`t Recognize Israel