Word: gaza
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Olmert, who faces possible corruption charges when he steps down and is blamed by Israelis for having led the country into inconclusive wars in Lebanon and Gaza, wants to end his term on a positive note. Shalit's release would do that. However, though the Egyptian-brokered talks are top secret, Hamas is said to be exacting a high toll for Shalit's freedom. Press reports say the Islamists are demanding that Israel release 1,400 prisoners in three stages, including "several dozen" serving life senteces for multiple killings. This pains Israel because it means that terrorists "with blood...
...including Shin Bet security services chief Yuval Diskin, to Cairo for indirect talks with Hamas, which may be hung up on details of an exchange. Those talks were extended until Monday night, raising the expectation that Hamas might agree to free the captive soldier, who is hidden somewhere in Gaza. "It's been very tough," Noam Shalit told TIME. "But we can't give up. I have no alternative but to be here, in this tent." But as of Tuesday morning, the envoys had returned from the Cairo talks without a deal on Shalit's release. Diskin and the other...
...into politicians, but there is an ethos among Israelis that it is worth nearly any sacrifice to bring home the body of a soldier fallen in battle or one taken prisoner. Even families of terrorist victims are pleading for Olmert to strike a deal with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and survived a 22-day pummeling by Israel earlier this year. Roni Hirshzon, who lost his son Amir in a suicide-bombing attack, said, "What is the price Hamas demands compared with the life of a soldier?" (See pictures of Gaza after the Israeli invasion...
Arab and Israeli press reports say Olmert has reluctantly agreed to Hamas' list of prisoners but that he wants 90 convicted terrorists to be deported to Syria, Lebanon or elsewhere and another 30 Palestinians to be released in Gaza, not to their homes in the West Bank. Hamas supposedly refuses to make these concessions...
Hamas sources told TIME that the Islamists are divided over their response to Israel's offer. The split is between the exiled leadership in Damascus and the political and military wings in Gaza, which took the brunt of the Israeli offensive in the coastal strip. "Why should we give Olmert a farewell gift?" says one Hamas official close to the exiled leaders in Syria. "After all, he launched attacks on Gaza and killed many...