Word: shalit
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Having secured the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston on July 4th, Hamas officials are now moving discreetly to negotiate freedom for another Gaza hostage - Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit, seized in June 2006 in a raid by Palestinian militants who had tunneled under the Israeli security wall around Gaza, is currently being held by kidnappers who include members of Hamas' own military wing, as well another radical group, the Popular Resistance Committees...
Freeing Johnston, say Palestinian analysts, may help pave the way toward the release of another Gaza hostage, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, because the Army of Islam is among the militant groups that helped kidnap Shalit a year ago. But he would probably be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and Israeli officials must first overcome their aversion to dealing with Hamas, a group they still brand as "terrorists...
...reporter who most likely will not be there to cover a possible Shalit release is Johnston, who plans on taking a much deserved "break" from Gaza. Says Johnston: "I literally dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room. And now it really is over, and it really is indescribably good...
...West Bank is shaky, Hamas can now rightly say that it is fully in control of Gaza. Freeing Johnston will help Hamas achieve a measure of international respectability, and, according to Palestinian analysts, the move may pave the way toward the release of another Gaza hostage, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped a year ago by several militants, including members of the Army of Islam. Hamas claims it is also trying to persuade smaller militant outfits in Gaza to cease firing rockets into Israel...
...Shalit's captors want the Israeli government to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli soldier. On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would release 250 prisoners from the Fatah group - but none from Hamas...