"Shalit" May Not Be Alive

President Jimmy Carter recently delivered a letter from Israel addressed to Gilad Shalit the IDF prisoner of war. HAMAS says they will deliver the letter to Shalit "if he survived" the recent Gaza holocaust. Perhaps Israel should have thought about how severely they bombed and the types of weapons they used. Raining down white phosphorous and DIME missiles, they may have murdered one of their own.

Hamas leader Dr Osama Am-Maziny promised on Monday to deliver a letter from the family of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit if the prisoner survived Israeli's assault on Gaza last winter.

"Hamas received the letter and promised to send it to the relevant persons. If he is alive it will reach him, but if he is dead it won’t reach him because we actually don’t know if he is still alive after the Gaza war," he said.

Former US President Jimmy Carter had delivered a letter from the family of the captured soldier to Hamas officials in Gaza earlier this month, in an attempt to restart flailing negotiations over his fate and the fate of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

"Carter asked for a confirmation from us and we replied that we don’t know the real fact about whether he is dead or alive after Gaza’s war," Am-Maziny added.

Meanwhile, the Hamas official noted that Shalit's location is an extremely guarded secret, and that Israel "doesn't know where [Shalit] is in spite of its spies," adding that recent reports that Israel does not know whether the soldier is alive is true, "not a media speech."

Regardless, the official said that there has been little progress on the soldier's case, but that in the first year of Shalit's detainment, there were understandings reached with Israel. Am-Maziny said that such negotiations ended with the administration of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who left office earlier this year. source

BREAKING~ Egypt Releases Pro-Palestinian blogger

The Egyptian authorities have released 22-year-old Egyptian blogger Diaa Eddin Gad after nearly seven weeks in detention, according to an Egyptian human rights group. Gad was arrested on February 6 for criticizing Egypt's policies during Israel's recent war on Gaza.

BEIRUT, March 30, 2009 (MENASSAT) - “Diaa (Eddin Gad) was released on Friday (March 27) at dawn... He was ill-treated in the period when we did not know where he was being held," Gamal Eid, director of the Cairo-based NGO Arabic Network for Human Rights Information told Reuters regarding Egyptian blogger Gad's imprisonment.

According to Eid, Gad was interrogated about his criticism of Mubarak and support of Gaza on his blog. Eid also said that the blogger was subject to torture while in custody, althought he Egyptian government has said nothing on the matter.

Gad was detained by police in early February near his home in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya and then transferred to an unknown location.

On his blog "An Angry Voice" (http://soutgadeb.blogspot.com), Gad had featured "pro-Palestinian" content and news on the situation in the Strip during the recent three-week long Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Gad had posted numerous personal critiques of President Mubarak and the Egyptian authorities for their handling of the Gaza crisis, referring to Mubarak as "Ehud Mubarak"--an obvious reference to Israeli Defense Minister and former Prime Minister Ehud Barack.

Egypt faced strong criticism from the Arab world during the Gaza war for keeping its border with the Strip closed throughout the Israeli offensive.

Thousands of Egyptians joined in several large demonstrations that were held in Cairo in support of Gaza during the war.

Gad is not the only one: Mohammad Adel

Gad is not the only pro-Palestinian activist that was arrested during the time of the Gaza crisis. In February, Egyptian police detained German-Egyptian student and blogger Philip Rizk in a march in support of Gaza. He was held in custody for five days.

Last year, the Egyptian authorities arrested 20-year old student blogger Mohammed Adel on a Cairo street. No formal charges have been brought against Adel, but it is believed that the cyber-activist is being held because of recent photos he took in Gaza where he is seen posing with Hamas leaders.

Sources in Cairo say Adel could face charges of “terrorism and involvement in an armed organization” because of the images.

In an act of solidarity with Adel, a group of Egyptian bloggers and activists launched in February this year the campaign “ Operation General Meit”, “Meit” being Adel’s blog title (and nickname) that translates to “Already Dead”, where they are posing with fake AK-47s and toy guns in pictures on the Internet.

Blogger and “Operation General Meit” campaigner Mina Zekry previously told MENASSAT that the aim of the campaign was to bring attention to how “ridiculous” the allegations against Adel are.

“If Meit (Mohammed Adel) is a terrorist, then I’m also a terrorist,” Zekry states in a picture depicting the blogger holding a fake gun.

Hamas & Israel Talking Again on Prisoner Swap

Israeli-Palestinian Prisoner Swap Back on the Table

This just in from Haaretz:

Hamas resumed indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at exchanging abducted Israel Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli jails, Hamas official Ali Barakeh said Wednesday.

Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June, 2006. Efforts to secure his release in a prisoner exchange with Hamas have so far yielded no results.

Barakeh said that a delegation from Hamas is in Cairo to pursue a deal.

Also, Palestinian sources reported that Egytian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman had sent an envoy to Israel, and that he had spent the last two days here. The sources said that the Egyptian official was sent to Israel in order to revive talks geared at securing Shalit's release.

Egyptians sources have clarified that efforts to secure a prisoner exchange agreement have resumed and will continue in the following days until a deal is reached.

Israeli officials sounded similar comments on Wednesday.


It appears that now, both sides will focus solely on completing the deal before the end of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term and the swearing in of the new government, led by Likud Chairman Benjamin Netnayahu. However, it is not clear whether the gaps between the two sides can be bridged within this time frame. It is also unclear whether Hamas has handed Israel a revised prisoner list.

Done Deal~israel to Trade All 450 Palestinain Prisoners for Shalit

Well, the deal is done it would appear. Israel will trade all Palestinian prisoners for Shalit. I did a post about this the other day with a possible explanation of why they are doing this. Additionally, I would not trust Israel for one nano second not to have some evil plan to kill off some of these they plan to release. Perhaps mossad or yet another bombing run maybe? One wonders what the life span of those released will be. One wonders……..

Israeli PM says prisoner swap with Hamas decided on Monday 2009-03-15 18:27:02

Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday said that his government would make on Monday its decision on a possible prisoner swap deal with Hamas.

Two high-ranking Israeli officials are now in Cairo for meetings with Egyptian mediators on the expected exchange, which would see the return of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Hinting that progress has been made on the issue, which gathers increasing public attention, Olmert said that "until today, Hamas' position was far beyond what the most moderate figures that pressured and pushed for a deal with Hamas would have accepted."

Recently revealed bargaining showed that any exchange deal would see Israel free hundreds of Palestinian detainees from its jails in return, many of whom were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis.

Should a deal be reached and approved, the swap would begin with Israel releasing 300 prisoners and Hamas transferring Shalit to Egypt, which would be followed up with the release of 150 more Palestinian prisoners and the return of Shalit to Israel, according to Ha'aretz.　

My guess is that the additional 150 Palestinian prisoners will never see the light of day once Shalit is returned. What say you?