Israel Matzav: Shalit in Egypt?

Shalit in Egypt?

The Kuwaiti daily al-Jarida reported on Thursday that kidnapped IDF corporal Gilad Shalit has been moved to Egypt and that the 'terrorists for Gilad' exchange is underway.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that Shalit has been taken to a secret and secure location in the country, accompanied by Ahmed Jabari, head of Hamas' military wing and senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar.

Israel and Hamas have yet to comment on the report.

While this could be true, it does not mean that the deal is a done deal.

Arab media reports have said Hamas is likely to present additional conditions for the agreement, which Israel has already agreed to in principle.

The main remaining dispute, said the reports, is over a few senior prisoners who are described as "symbols of the Palestinian struggle." It seems Hamas has concluded it will be difficult to convince Israel to free the senior Hamas leaders.

Therefore, Hamas will likely focus its demands on two prisoners not from Hamas: Marwan Bargouti of Fatah, and the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Saadat. One option is that Israel may release them and ban them from the West Bank, reported the Al-Arabiya network.

The final negotiations center on which senior prisoners Israel will release.

As some of you may recall, I reported earlier this week that Fatah Tanzim chief Marwan Barghouti is going to be given the right to decide whether he will stay in jail or be exiled. It's being reported on Thursday morning that Barghouti has decided he'd rather stay in jail than be exiled.

"Marwan is going nowhere; he wants to return to his home and family in Palestine," said his wife, Fadwa Barghouti.

She said that neither she nor her husband would agree to his deportation.

His friends in Ramallah said they were unaware of any Israeli offer to deport Barghouti, along with dozens of prisoners whom Hamas was demanding in return for Schalit's release.

...

Issa Qaraqi, the Palestinian Authority minister for prisoners' affairs, who met recently with Barghouti, said that the top Fatah operative was opposed to the idea of living in exile.

Qaraqi said Israel was insisting on the deportation of Barghouti and 11 other prominent prisoners, including Ahmad Sa'adat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Meanwhile, the 'good terrorists' from Fatah are pushing for Barghouti to be released before the Hamas terrorists so that they and not Hamas get credit for his release. Israelis are denying Barghouti will be released at all.

By the way, at the end of that last article, there's a claim that Israel totally failed to find out where Shalit is being held and that is why it is being humiliated with a 'prisoner exchange.' The word here is that's rubbish. Israel has known all along where Shalit was being held but at the insistence of the Shalit family - which feared an outcome like Nachshon Wachsman HY"D (may God avenge his blood) - the IDF did not undertake a rescue mission.

UPDATE 12:12 PM

Hamas is denying that Shalit has been transferred to Egypt.

Israel Matzav: Shalit in Egypt?