Israel frees Hamas West Bank political official

One of the Hamas militant group's top political leaders in the West Bank was released from an Israeli prison on Thursday after spending six months behind bars.

Prisons Service spokesman Yaron Zamir said Nasser al-Shaer was freed from a prison camp in southern Israel after completing a sentenced imposed by a military detention order.

Al-Shaer is among dozens of Hamas lawmakers that Israel has arrested to put pressure on the group to free Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, held in Gaza by Hamas for more than three years.

Israel does not comment on its efforts to free Schalit, and there was no indication that al-Shaer's release was linked to those efforts.

Al-Shaer served as deputy prime minister in a Palestinian unity government that fell apart in the wake of fierce fighting between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in 2007. Hamas subsequently overran the Gaza Strip, leaving Abbas in control only of the West Bank.

A combination of anti-Hamas crackdowns by Israel and by Abbas has driven the movement in the West Bank largely underground.

Nine other Hamas lawmakers were released from Israeli prisons earlier this month after completing 40-month jail terms. At least 20 are still in custody. The internal Palestinian feud has rendered the parliament in which they served all but defunct.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met al-Shaer during a visit to the West Bank last year, angering the Israeli government and the White House, both of which list Hamas as a terrorist group.

At Israel's border with Gaza, Schalit's father, Noam, was among a group of activists that delivered a care package for his son. The package was handed to Palestinian activists in hope that the letters would reach the captive soldier, who has not been seen since his capture in June 2006. In return, the Israeli activists took dozens of care packages to be delivered to Hamas prisoners in Israel.

Sami Abeed, a Palestinian journalist who accepted the package, said it contained letters, fruit and drawings for Schalit. He said he did not know whether the goods would reach the soldier.

Hamas' continued control of Gaza is one of a series of obstacles the Obama administration is trying to overcome as it seeks to restart peace talks between Israel and Abbas' government.

On Friday, Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, is to meet for the third time this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an attempt to reach an agreement on curtailing Israeli settlement construction. Mitchell is also expected to meet Abbas.

Obama has reached out very publicly to the Arab and Muslim world and taken an uncharacteristically tough stand against Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - areas captured by Israel in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians.

Obama hopes to bring Netanyahu and Abbas together in New York next week as a prelude to renewed peacemaking, but that could be difficult without some headway on the settlements.

The Palestinians say they will not return to the negotiating table without a complete freeze on settlement construction. The Obama administration has echoed that demand.

With the Jewish New Year holiday beginning Friday, Israel said it would close off the West Bank until late Sunday, barring Palestinians from entering Israel. Israel commonly imposes closures during Jewish holidays to deter possible attacks by Palestinian militants.