Hamas among intractable issues in Mideast talks By IBRAHIM BARZAK AND JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers – Thu Sep 2, 4:06 pm ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – To relaunch Middle East peace talks on Thursday, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and their American mediators quietly agreed to push aside the question of Hamas — the Islamic militant group that controls one of the two Palestinian territories and rejects negotiations.But Hamas let it be known with its bullets that it would not be left out of the equation — the militants killed four Israelis and wounded two others in a pair of attacks on the eve of the new talks.The bloodshed was a reminder that Hamas is now on the list of intractable issues that have stymied decades of Mideast negotiations. There can be no peace without Hamas, but there is no solution so far for bringing the Iranian-backed group into the process.The attacks were meant to tell (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas he is not the one who decides the fate of the Palestinians, declared Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, adding that the group deserves a place in national decision-making because it won parliamentary elections in 2006.Hamas will never agree to be ignored and isolated, and it can reshuffle the cards, he said.Hamas is firmly in control of the Gaza Strip, one of the two territories that are supposed to be part of a future Palestinian state. It wields virtual veto power over any agreement and has given no indication it would be willing to accept a deal with Israel reached by Abbas, who runs a rival government in the West Bank.
The more moderate Abbas met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday for the first peace talks in two years, hosted by President Barack Obama.Abbas and Netanyahu are far apart on issues that have eluded a solution for decades, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and the most explosive issue, the competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem.But if they can somehow work out these differences, Hamas would be needed to implement any deal. The Palestinians seek the West Bank and Gaza — located on opposite sides of Israel — for their future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.For now, the Palestinians appear to be unified on one issue: There can be no peace that leaves the 1.5 million people of Gaza out.Abbas has rejected any suggestion of a partial solution granting independence only to the West Bank and its 2.4 million Palestinians. This would be perceived by the Palestinian public as a massive sellout and sign of weakness. Hamas would paint Abbas as a traitor.Any result and outcome of these talks does not commit us and does not commit our people. It only commits Abbas himself, said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.Abbas has repeatedly said he will present any peace deal to a national referendum, a vote that would include the people of Gaza. A vote in favor of peace would put heavy pressure on Hamas to accept the will of the Palestinian people.So if Abbas will not go it alone, the quandary is how to bring Hamas into the fold.Hamas, founded two decades ago as a Palestinian offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly played the role of spoiler in Mideast peace efforts over the years.A series of Hamas suicide bombings in the mid-1990s helped derail peace negotiations at the time. The group also killed hundreds of Israelis during the second Palestinian uprising last decade — a time of heavy fighting in which Israel killed Hamas' spiritual leader and dozens of other top commanders. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians also died in the fighting.When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Hamas stepped up rocket attacks on southern Israel, helping fuel years of violence. After the 2006 election, a unity government formed with Abbas' Fatah movement collapsed into civil war, resulting in Hamas' takeover of Gaza the following year.
In fiery speeches ahead of the launch of peace talks, Hamas leaders repeatedly rejected compromise with Israel and condemned Abbas for seeking peace. Yet behind the public rhetoric, the enigmatic group has also shown itself to be remarkably pragmatic. In its short-lived power-sharing agreement with Abbas, it agreed to let the moderate president handle negotiations with Israel, as long as he presented any deal to a national referendum. While refusing to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist, Hamas has largely honored a cease-fire since a devastating Israeli military offensive ended early last year. Hamas forces have even blocked smaller militant groups from staging attacks, and this week, commanders ordered their forces to hold fire when Israeli tanks were conducting exercises along the Gaza border. Hamas leaders frequently speak of long-term truces with Israel that could last decades. Hamas is also eager to win legitimacy in the Arab world. The reaction of key Arab players — including Syria, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Damascus, as well as Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and Egypt — could greatly influence Hamas' behavior.Beyond condemnations of this week's shootings, neither Israeli, American or Palestinian officials in Abbas' delegation have said much about Hamas, reflecting the international community's inability to find a way to work with the Islamic militants.Abbas condemned the attacks by the Islamic militants and his forces have arrested more than 250 Hamas activists in the West Bank.Asked about Hamas on Thursday, White House Mideast envoy George Mitchell said: We do not expect Hamas to play a role in this immediate process. He added, however, that the U.S. would welcome Hamas' full participation if it complies with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite to engage in these serious types of discussions.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor agreed the Islamic militants have no role to play for now.Hamas does not fit into the process, he said, adding that although the sides hope to reach an agreement in a year, implementing it would have to be gradual.
Very efficient measures will be needed by all parties involved before an eventual peace agreement can be extended to Gaza, he said. In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, top Hamas officials voiced great skepticism over the new peace talks, but signaled they have no intention of scuttling the negotiations, at least for now.You want to go? OK, go. We have no objection, said Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas' top leader in Gaza, referring to Thursday's gathering in Washington. He confidently predicted the talks would fail, saying Abbas is wasting time.Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians have been torn between two governments. Hamas now has tens of thousands of armed fighters in Gaza and a sizable arsenal of rockets and mortar shells at its disposal. Neither a three-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza nor Israel's fierce military offensive last year put a dent in Hamas' control.
Israel and the international community shun Hamas as a terrorist group and would have to make a tough decision to engage with the militants. The group has long coveted international recognition. But it has refused to accept international calls to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist. Our resistance is continuous,Zahar said.Barzak reported from Gaza City and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Hamas vows more deadly attacks on Israelis
by Sakher Abu El Oun - Thu Sep 2, 11:28 am ET
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas vowed to press its campaign of deadly attacks on Israelis as a new round of Middle East peace talks was launched in Washington on Thursday.The resistance operations will continue, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, following two shooting attacks on West Bank roads in 24 hours that killed four Israeli settlers and wounded two others.Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has claimed responsibility for both attacks and linked them to the relaunch of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington, which it vehemently opposes.Security forces scoured the occupied West Bank for the gunmen and an Israeli official, who asked not to be named, hailed the Palestinian Authority for what he said was the arrest of hundreds of terrorists in the territory.Hamas gave conflicting accounts of the number of its members arrested in the crackdown, with the leadership in Gaza putting it at 550 but a senior Hamas official in the West Bank saying it was closer to 150.The Palestinian Authority denied it had arrested any Hamas members in connection with the attacks.Its security spokesman Adnan al-Damiri said that Hamas members were given routine summonses which the security services undertake to prevent any law-breaking.The Western-backed Palestinian Authority and Hamas have been fiercely divided since the Islamist movement seized control of the Gaza Strip in deadly street fighting in 2007.
A military spokeswoman said Israeli forces had arrested eight wanted Palestinians in and around Hebron, where the first attack took place, but declined to say whether the arrests were related to the incident.Major Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, had earlier said that while Israel had a good working relationship with Palestinian security forces there was still the risk of future attacks.They are working against Hamas and we are working against Hamas, but it's still not enough and the results are plain to see over the last two days, Lerner told reporters on a tour of the West Bank.All it takes is one man with a gun, one man, to penetrate our defences.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who were in Washington for the talks, both condemned the attacks.I will not let the terrorists block our path to peace, but as as these events underscore once again, that peace must be anchored in security, Netanyahu said Wednesday.Abbas called for an end to the violence.We do not want at all that any blood be shed... one drop of blood on the part of Israelis and Palestinians, he said.Furious settlers vowed to flout an Israeli moratorium on West Bank settlement construction in protest at the attack.
In a symbolic protest, settlers began building a house in the settlement of Beit Haggai, where the slain Israelis were from, after laying the foundation for a sports centre in the West Bank north of Jerusalem on Wednesday. In November, the Israeli government, under US pressure, imposed a partial, 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank outside annexed Arab east Jerusalem in a move aimed at promoting the peace talks. The Palestinians say that a renewal of settlement building after September 26, when the moratorium expires, would end the negotiations. But Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there is no change to the cabinet decision to end the (moratorium) at the end of September 2010, his office said. This week's attacks were the first in the West Bank to be claimed by Hamas since early 2008 and followed the deployment of thousands of US-trained Palestinian security forces in the territory over the past three years.
Pope wants respectful deal in Mideast
– Thu Sep 2, 10:38 am ET
VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI Thursday called for a Middle East peace agreement that is respectful of the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians, during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.The pope said he hoped Israeli and Palestinian leaders' resumption of direct talks set for later on Thursday in Washington would assist the parties in reaching a deal capable of bringing lasting peace to the Holy Land and to the entire region, the Vatican said in a statement.He also condemned all forms of violence and affirmed the necessity of guaranteeing better conditions of life to all the peoples of the area.Under US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's supervision, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will sit down for their first direct talks in nearly two years, with issues that have thwarted previous peace efforts on the table.Pope Benedict also expressed hope for the rapid conclusion of the work of an Israeli-Vatican commission that is drafting an economic accord between the two states.The cordial discussions were conduct in English at Pope Benedict's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome.Peres gave the pope a Menorah, the traditional Jewish seven-branched candelabrum, with an inscription likening Pope Benedict as a shepherd leading his flock to lands of blessing and peace.The pope in return gave Peres a bronze medal copy of one placed by Pope Alexander VII in 1657 on the first stone of the collonade on the north side of Saing Peter's basilica at the Vatican.
EU urges restraint as Middle East talks resume
– Thu Sep 2, 10:38 am ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Israelis and Palestinians should avoid provocative actions which could derail direct peace talks, the European Union's chief diplomat said Thursday after a flare-up of violence.EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for their vision and political courage as they prepared to resume negotiations.She said the outcome of their talks would be crucial for both sides and the whole Middle East.
But the killing of four Israelis near a West Bank settlement, an attack claimed by the Islamist militant group Hamas, shows that there are forces in the region which are determined to undermine the peace process, Ashton said.We must not allow them to succeed. Supporters of peace must persevere through difficult times, she said in a statement.It is very important that all relevant parties avoid provocative actions which could undermine the success of the talks.Ashton added: This attack underlines, above all, the urgency of a two-state solution with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with each other and their neighbours.Abbas and Netanyahu were to resume direct talks in Washington on Thursday following a 20-month hiatus.
Ashton reiterated hopes expressed by a quarter of international powers that the two sides would conclude negotiations within one year, adding that the talks should focus on all final status issues.The European Union is a member of the Middle East Quartet, along with the Russia, the United States and the United Nations.Ashton was invited to an informal dinner ahead of the talks in Washington, but was unable to attend due to a previously scheduled trip to China.
Mubarak urges Netanyahu to act on peace chance
– Wed Sep 1, 10:35 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to make good on his vow to forge peace with the Palestinians and reiterated a plea for Israel to halt settlement activity.On the eve of Thursday's first direct Israeli-Palestinian talks in 20 months in Washington, Mubarak said the Israelis should seize the current opportunity and not let it slip through your fingers.He was speaking at a press conference at the White House to launch the negotiations alongside US President Barack Obama, Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan.I urge Israel to reach out to the Arab hand extended for peace, said Mubarak. Israel should totally halt settlement activity until the peace process comes to a conclusion.The Palestinians say that a renewal of settlement activities after September 26, when a 10-month partial moratorium expires, would end the negotiations. The settlements house about 500,000 people on lands occupied by Israel in 1967.Netanyahu faces pressure from his Likud party to continue settlement construction.The Egyptian leader noted that he had met Netanyahu many times and said he looked forward to him making good on his repeated assertions that he wanted to forge a long awaited peace which Israelis yearned for.Mubarak had a bilateral meeting earlier in the day with Obama, as the US president geared up his bold attempt to secure a historic Middle East peace deal within a year.
Mubarak's main message had been that Obama should be prepared to step directly into the dialogue between the two sides, his spokesman Soliman Awaad said.President Mubarak told President Obama that had (the late Egyptian president Anwar) Sadat and (the late Israeli prime minister) Menachem Begin been left all alone in Camp David, they would have never reached any peace agreement, Awaad said, referring to the landmark 1978 negotiations.This time also, the two parties should not be left all alone, otherwise there will be big stumbling blocks, he said.What is really needed is for the United States to step in, remain committed, remain engaged and lend a helping hand to the two parties in order to help bridge the gaps in the positions, sort the differences.Mubarak wrote in Wednesday's edition of The New York Times that Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, is prepared to continue mediating between Abbas's Fatah party in the West Bank and the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, which rejects talks with Israel.The Palestinians cannot make peace with a house divided. If Gaza is excluded from the framework of peace, it will remain a source of conflict, undermining any final settlement, he wrote.Mubarak added that Arab states should make gestures to allay Israeli concerns.In the interim both sides must show that this dream (of a Palestinian state) is within reach. Arab nations should continue to demonstrate the seriousness of their peace initiative with steps that address the hopes and concerns of ordinary Israelis.Washington has demanded that Arab countries take steps to normalize relations with Israel to build confidence for the negotiations. Only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, have diplomatic relations with Israel.Mubarak supported previous calls by Abbas to station international troops in a Palestinian state, writing: I recognize that Israel has legitimate security needs, needs that can be reconciled with the Palestinians? just demand for a complete withdrawal from occupied territory.
Obama holds Mideast talks
– Wed Sep 1, 6:03 am ET
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will hold separate meetings Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS').It's an effort to jump-start peace talks that have been stalled for almost two years. He'll also meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak (HAHS'-nee moo-BAH'-rahk) of Egypt.
With Hurricane Earl bearing down on the U.S., the president will get an update on preparations from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate.
Palestinian kills 4 Israelis on eve of peace talks By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 31, 9:17 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Palestinian gunmen opened fire Tuesday on an Israeli car in the West Bank and killed four passengers on the eve of a new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington. The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility.Assailants firing from a passing car riddled the vehicle with bullets as it traveled near Hebron — a volatile city that has been a flash point of violence in the past. Some 500 ultranationalist Jewish settlers live in heavily fortified enclaves in the city amid more than 100,000 Palestinians.One of the victims was pregnant, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Israel's national rescue service said the victims were two men and two women, and Israeli media said everyone in the car was killed.Video broadcast live on Israel TV late Tuesday showed a white Subaru station wagon standing at an angle at the side of a road, its windows shot out and its doors dotted with bullet holes. The car was flanked by army and police vehicles and dozens of soldiers.The attackers fled and Israeli forces set up roadblocks and carried out searches to try to catch them.About 3,000 people joined a rally in Gaza to celebrate the attack. Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida was among them and told The Associated Press: The Qassam Brigades announces its full responsibility for the heroic operation in Hebron.Upon arriving in Washington for this week's talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and said terror will not determine Israel's borders or the future of the settlements. Borders and the fate of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians want for a future state are key issues in the negotiations.
President Barack Obama hopes to forge a peace agreement within one year.The White House on Tuesday condemned the attack and press secretary Robert Gibbs called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. He said the attack, coming on the eve of a new round of talks, shows how far the enemies of peace will go to try to block progress.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was already in Washington meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when the attack took place.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's office issued a statement charging the attack was aimed at undermining his government's effort to build international support for the Palestinian position and ending the (Israeli) occupation.Hamas, a fierce rival of the Western-backed Palestinian president, expelled Abbas' forces from Gaza in 2007 and took over the territory. Abbas has been trying to limit the Islamic militants' reach in the West Bank, jailing activists and even cracking down on mosque preachers.Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., Israel and European Union.Asked about the shooting, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. is aware there are those who will do whatever they can to disrupt or derail the process.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised a tough response to an attack he said was aimed at sabotaging the talks.Israel will not allow terrorists to raise their heads and will exact a price from the murderers and those who send them, he said in a statement.
U.N. envoy Robert Serry issued a statement condemning the attack and urging all parties not to allow the enemies of peace to affect the negotiations about to be launched.There is widespread opposition to the resumption of the peace talks among Palestinians. Hamas opposes any contact with Israel and has harshly criticized Abbas for agreeing to resume the negotiations. Opposition to resuming talks is also coming from within the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella group headed by Abbas. Some Fatah activists threaten to try to depose him if he makes concessions, and several hard-line PLO groups plan a demonstration in the West Bank administrative capital of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest resumption of negotiations.Netanyahu also faces some domestic opposition from elements of his hard-line coalition of religious and nationalist parties. He has said that protecting Israel's security interests will be his top priority in the talks.Heading into a meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu said in the statement he would tell her, This criminal murder proves again the need to stand firmly on Israel's stringent security demands, and there will be no compromise on them.The attack disrupted a relative lull in the West Bank. The last fatal attack occurred in June, when Palestinians opened fire on a police vehicle near Hebron and killed one officer.It was the deadliest Palestinian attack against Israelis since March 2008, when a lone assailant gunned down eight students in a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary.A previous U.S. launching of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was also accompanied by deadly violence. Palestinian gunmen shot and killed an Israeli in the West Bank before then-President George W. Bush convened Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007. The gunmen said the attack was an act of protest against the Annapolis conference.Talking to reporters on his plane heading for Washington, Abbas called for decisive American involvement in the talks. He said that if the two sides reach a deadlock, the Obama administration should present bridging proposals to bridge the gap between the two positions.In one major challenge to the first direct talks between the sides in two years, Abbas warned it would be difficult to continue negotiating if Israel fails to extend a 10-month curb on West Bank settlement construction that ends in late September. Netanyahu has not made a final decision.Associated Press writers Matti Friedman and Robert Burns in Washington, Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip and Nasser Shiyoukhi in Hebron, West Bank contributed to this report.
Egypt urges EU to bolster U.S.-led Mideast peace bid
– Mon Aug 30, 10:59 am ET
PARIS (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Europe on Monday to throw its weight behind U.S.-led efforts to secure a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.Mubarak, whose country in 1979 became the first Arab state to strike a peace deal with Israel, discussed the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before heading to Washington this week for the first direct negotiations in 20 months.The American administration needs strong backing from the European Union for the peace process to continue, he said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are due to meet President Barack Obama on September 1, according to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and launch direct negotiations the following day.Sarkozy said Europe planned to further promote the push for peace at a Euro-Mediterranean summit planned for November 20 in Barcelona, Spain, where key leaders from the Middle East would be present.After months of stalemate, a hope exists. This chance must be seized, Sarkozy said.I believe the U.S. role is very important but cannot be the only one.Mubarak expressed concerns that Israeli building of further settlements would not help the peace process.We agreed that a peace deal should be reached within one year to end occupation and establish the Palestinian state, the 82-year-old president said.There is a hesitation among Israelis to stop settlements and that needs more effort and European support.After their hour-long meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Sarkozy expressed a similar view.Firstly, every person in Israel should understand one thing. When there is hope for peace, everything should be done to bolster that, he said.(Reporting by Felix Bate in Paris, Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, writing by Brian Love; editing by Michael Roddy)
Abbas, Palestinians should die: Israeli rabbi
– Sun Aug 29, 6:03 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An influential Israeli rabbi has said God should strike the Palestinians and their leader with a plague, calling for their death in a fiery sermon before Middle East peace talks set to begin next week.Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this earth, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel's government, said in a sermon late Saturday, using Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's popular name.God should strike them and these Palestinians -- evil haters of Israel -- with a plague, the 89-year-old rabbi said in his weekly address to the faithful, excerpts of which were broadcast on Israeli radio Sunday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the comments and said Israel wanted to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians that would ensure good neighborly relations.The comments do not reflect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's view or the position of the government of Israel, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.The United States said Yosef's comments were inflammatory and an impediment to peace efforts.As we move forward to relaunch peace negotiations, it is important that actions by people on all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a statement.President Barack Obama's administration is hosting Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington this week to try to restart direct Mideast peace negotiations after a nearly two-year hiatus.
The Iraqi-born cleric has made similar remarks before, most notably in 2001, during a Palestinian uprising, when he called for Arabs' annihilation and said it was forbidden to be merciful to them.He later said he was referring only to terrorists who attacked Israelis. In the 1990s, Yosef broke with other Orthodox Jewish leaders by voicing support for territorial compromise with the Palestinians.Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Yosef's latest comments were tantamount to calling for genocide against Palestinians. The rabbi's remarks, he said, were an insult to all our efforts to advance the negotiations process.Arriving at Netanyahu's office for a weekly cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai of Shas declined to comment when asked by reporters about Yosef's sermon.Netanyahu and Abbas are due to resume direct peace talks in Washington Thursday, the first such negotiations in 20 months in a peace process that commits both sides to avoid incitement, which has included anti-Jewish sermons by Palestinian clerics.(Additonal reporting by JoAnne Allen in Washington. Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Jon Boyle and Chris Wilson)
Thousands rally for release of Israeli soldier By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press Writer – Sat Aug 28, 4:27 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Thousands of people rallied outside the Israeli prime minister's residence Saturday, demanding he conclude a deal to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants more than four years ago.The show of support for Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was seized by Hamas-allied militants inside Israel in a 2006 cross-border raid, comes on the soldier's 24th birthday.More than seven thousand people took part in the rally outside premier Benjamin Netanyahu's house, some of them toting large white banners bearing Schalit's picture.
Hamas has demanded Israel release hundreds of prisoners, including many who carried out deadly attacks on Israeli civilians, in exchange for Schalit.No one but his Hamas captors have seen Schalit since he was abducted, but the group released a brief videotape last year to prove he was still alive.Israelis are divided on whether such a deal should take place. There is a strong emotional sentiment behind freeing a soldier at any cost. But there are those that oppose the deal because statistics show that many Palestinian militants freed in past prisoner swaps have returned to violence upon their release.On Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a message to Schalit's family, promising that we will never give up trying to free him. Schalit is French-Israeli.Britain's Foreign Office released a short statement demanding Schalit's release, calling his detention unjustifiable and unacceptable.
