Ministerial panel: Tighten Gaza borders, strip Palestinian prisoners' rights

A special ministerial committee, assembled in the wake of failed negotiations over the release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, urged the government on Wednesday to tighten its control of Gaza Strip border crossings to increase pressure on Hamas.

The committee called to further restrict passage of merchandize into the coastal encave, but recommended that humanitarian aid still be brought safely into Gaza.

The committee was headed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedman andincluded ministers Haim Ramon, Shalom Simhon, Rafi Eitan, MeirSheetrit, as well as Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and various representatives of the defense establishment.

The committee was mandated with discussing the prison conditions of Palestinian incarcerated in Israel and possibly working to equal theirconditions to those of Shalit.

The committee decided to form a taskforce headed by the attorney general, and comprising representatives of the Shin Bet, IDF, and the Israeli Prison Service, to examine pulling some of privileges enjoyed by inmates associated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The taskforce will examine a number of options, including reducing the monetary allowances given to prisoners for personal use, restricting meansof communication, cutting down on visits and schooling possibilities,as well as preventing any physical contact between the inmates andtheir families.

The taskforce is expected to complete its inquiry within two weeks and will then release a set of operational guidelines forconsideration by the defense establishment.

MK Afu Aghbaria of Hadash called possibility of worsening jailing conditions an"inacceptable form of collective punishment."

"Contrary to Israeli claims, these prisoners do not live infive-star-hotel conditions," he said.

Israel will continue its efforts to negotiate a deal to free Shalit, but will not cross the "red lines" it presented at this week's talks in Cairo, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an address to the nation following Tueday's special cabinet session on the issue.

"Israel will not give in to Hamas' dictates as long as I am prime minister," Olmert said. "We will not cease our efforts, but we have red lines and will not cross them. We are not a defeated nation."

His associates said that if Hamas were to return to the understandings reached in earlier talks, it would be possible to resume the negotiations.

At a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Ofer Dekel, Olmert's chief negotiator on Shalit, revealed for the first time what Israel had offered: the release of 325 Palestinian prisoners, including some who murdered Israelis. However, Israel insisted that 144 of the prisoners be sent to the Gaza Strip or abroad rather than returning home.

Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin, who accompanied Dekel to Cairo, told the cabinet that Hamas refused to compromise on the release of some 100 additional prisoners who constitute the senior leadership of its military wing. It also refused to agree to the deportations.

"Had we agreed to Hamas' conditions as they insisted on the final day of the negotiations, it would have caused serious security damage to Israel," he said.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Military Intelligence director Amos Yadlin echoed this assessment. "Submitting to Hamas' demands would have dealt a mortal blow to moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority and the entire Middle East, while the extremists would have been greatly strengthened," Yadlin said.

The defense officials sharply criticized ministers who publicly advocated paying almost any price for Shalit's release.

Hamas had demanded that Israel release 450 prisoners it listed by name. Dekel told the cabinet that Israel repeatedly asked Hamas to submit an alternative list of prisoners, but it refused. During the weekend talks in Cairo, he added, it seemed that Hamas had agreed to Israel's demand that some of the prisoners be deported, and the organization also finally submitted new names to fill out the list. But it reverted to its original positions Monday, causing the Israeli team to go home empty-handed.

While Olmert pledged to continue the negotiations, the cabinet voted to set up a ministerial panel, headed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, to examine ways of increasing the pressure on Hamas - mainly by making life harder for Hamas members jailed in Israel, such as by banning visitors. The panel will submit its recommendations on Sunday.

Olmert said that in addition to the Cairo talks, negotiations also took place via various secret channels. However, he declined to give the ministers details about these channels, due to their sensitivity and the fact that they might be needed in the future. In his speech to the nation, Olmert revealed that Israel also used private individuals as emissaries to Hamas.

	Karni Gaza boarder crossing.
	Photo by: Albert Sadikov