Israel given until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday to release prisoners

[Shammu]

Israel given until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday to release prisoners
gil hoffman, herb keinon, and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 3, 2006

The three Palestinian terrorist groups that captured IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit gave Israel until 6 a.m. Tuesday to start releasing Palestinian prisoners or "pay the full future consequences."

The statement, which was faxed to news agencies on Monday, did not expressly say what those consequences would be.

"We give the Zionist enemy until 6:00 tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 4," the fax said. "If the enemy does not respond to our humanitarian demands mentioned in previous leaflets on the conditions for dealing with the issue of the missing solder...we will consider the current file of the solider to be closed ... and then the enemy must bear all the consequences of the future results."

The fax was posted on the official Hamas military wing Web site. It had the same letterhead and font as three earlier statements the factions released.

On Sunday, a Jerusalem Post poll of all nine members of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's diplomatic-security cabinet oppose releasing Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal that could bring about Shalit's release.

There have been reports that ministers were upset that they were not told in advance about the arrests of Hamas politicians on Thursday and that there was opposition to Olmert's decision not to bring ground forces into northern Gaza. But Olmert has, for the most part, managed to prevent any public opposition to his policies by ministers in the security cabinet.

According to senior diplomatic officials, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Justice Minister Haim Ramon are "on the same page as Olmert" regarding what Israel should, and should not, be doing to free Shalit and stop the Kassam rockets on Sderot. One of the ministers closest to Olmert, Livni has only articulated support for the government's policies, which she is responsible for explaining abroad.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres has also not publicly advised Olmert either to take stronger or weaker action against the Palestinians. Although in recent days, following his "Kassam, Shmassam" remark last month about the rocket attacks on Sderot, Peres has limited his Israeli media appearances, he has appeared a great deal in the foreign media, where he has completely backed the government.

In a series of interviews Sunday, including with CNN and Sky News, Peres said, "Hamas is responsible for what is happening in Gaza." Even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's efforts to bring about a solution through diplomatic measure were rejected by Hamas, he said.

Peres repeated the government line that Syrian President Bashar Assad needs to expel the terrorist apparatus working from its soil, and rejected Assad's claim that he knew nothing about Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's activities. "We were forced to act in order to carefully defend ourselves," Peres said Sunday. "We did not cause any civilian casualties. We are taking steps to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

The only minister who was reported to be wavering on the issue of releasing Palestinian prisoners was Pensioners Minister Rafi Eitan. When asked by Army Radio about whether he could see himself voting for such a measure last week, Eitan said "everything is possible in the Middle East." But Eitan's spokeswoman later said that he had been misinterpreted and he was firmly against releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Eitan, who only entered politics some four months ago, still declines to place himself on the traditional Right-Left political map.

Science and Technology Minister Ophir Paz-Pines, who considers himself the most "pragmatic" minister in the security cabinet, said he has made a point of raising in security cabinet meetings questions about how and when the IDF will leave the Gaza Strip.

Paz-Pines said he has publicly defended Olmert's policies because he considers them "moderate." He said he believed that former security men like Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter were purposely remaining silent in the media because they wanted to see more hard-line policies.

But Dichter's spokesman said his boss's public silence should not be interpreted as criticism. He said that Dichter says what needs to be said in closed circles and has made a point of not speaking publicly on matters not directly connected to his ministry.

Behind closed doors, Dichter has been quoted as calling for the Kassam launching town of Beit Hanun to be "wiped off the map" and insisting that before the IDF leaves the Gaza Strip everything necessary be done to ensure that Palestinian terrorists will not be able to fire upon Sderot.

Mofaz, who Olmert moved from the Defense Ministry to the Transportation Ministry, has not publicly weighed in at all on the events in Gaza. But this, according to government officials, doesn't mean that he is not sharing his opinions with the prime minister and defense minister - he is, the officials said, but only in private.

According to these officials, "in private forums, Mofaz is supporting the defense establishment and their decisions." Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai's spokesman said that Yishai was in the "restrained and realistic camp" in the government, and not on the Right or Left. On the one hand, he opposes West Bank realignment and he called Sunday for the creation of a security zone in the northern Gaza Strip controlled exclusively by the IDF. But on the other hand, he opposed bringing massive ground forces into the Strip, because he thought it would endanger Shalit.

Israel given until 6:00 a.m. Tuesday to release prisoners
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It's gonna' get ugly.............

Yup I think it is going to get real ugly............................

[Shammu]

Israel has deadline of tonight on soldier

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier gave Israel less than 24 hours Monday to start releasing 1,500 Palestinian prisoners and implied he would be killed if it did not comply, but Israel said it would not negotiate.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Syria that he held it responsible for the fate of the captured soldier.

The captors of Cpl. Gilad Shalit are presumed to take orders from hard-line Hamas leaders based in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

"We will know how to strike those who are involved," Peretz told a meeting of Israeli Labor Party officials.

The Israeli government said it would not cave in to extortion.

"There will be no negotiations to release prisoners," the prime minister's office said in a statement that held the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party responsible for Shalit's safe return.

However, the government sent mixed messages on the issue, with officials privately not ruling out the possibility of talks.

The three militant groups that seized Shalit said that if Israel doesn't comply with the militants' demands, "we will consider the soldier's case to be closed," it said, an apparent reference to killing him. "And then the enemy must bear all the consequences of the future results."

"We give the Zionist enemy until 6:00 tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 4, (11 p.m. EDT Monday)" the groups said in a statement posted on the Web site of the ruling Hamas party's military wing and faxed to news agencies.

Justice Minister Haim Ramon warned of a harsh military response in the  Gaza Strip if Shalit is harmed.

"If God forbid, they should hurt the soldier, our operations will be far far worse," Ramon told Channel 2 television. Ramon is a close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel already has ground troops inside Gaza and has carried out numerous airstrikes in the area since Shalit was abducted June 25.

Halutz did not say no when asked by reporters if Israel should negotiate.

"We, and by that I mean the political and military echelons, will consider all that there is to be considered, then reach conclusions and act on them," he said after leaving the Shalit family's home in northern Israel.

Israel has swapped prisoners before to win the release of captured citizens, and Israeli bodies, in usually lopsided deals that hand far more prisoners to the Palestinians.

Shalit, 19, was captured in a cross-border raid by Hamas' military wing and two allied groups, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam.

Israel has sent tanks, troops, gunboats and aircraft to attack Gaza over the past week to press militants to free Shalit. Intensive efforts to mediate his release, involving Egypt and other regional players, have not been successful.

There has been no sign of life from the soldier since his seizure, and no concrete evidence of his condition, though Israeli officials have said they think he is alive.

Shalit's captors initially demanded the release of about 500 women and children prisoners held in Israeli jails. They later raised their demands to include an additional 1,000 prisoners. Israel is currently holding about 9,000 Palestinians.

The latest demand requires Israel only to "start" freeing the prisoners by Tuesday morning.

Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad interpreted the ultimatum as "a message to Israel that all its military escalation will not get it anywhere."

Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis, has refused to renounce violence or recognize Israel since taking power in March. But the Hamas government and Hamas leaders based in Syria have denied responsibility for the soldier's capture.

Peretz nonetheless warned Damascus that he held it responsible for Shalit's fate.

"I suggest that (Syrian President) Bashar Assad, who is trying to operate with his eyes shut tight, open his eyes, because he is responsible," Peretz cautioned.

Last week, Israeli aircraft buzzed Assad's summer residence to try to pressure him to lean on Mashaal to release Shalit. Ramon said Mashaal, the target of a botched 1997 assassination attempt, remained in Israel's sights.

In their statement, Shalit's captors accused Israel of not "learning lessons" from the cases of other kidnapped soldiers. The last Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas, Nachshon Wachsman, died in 1994 in an Israeli commando raid on his captors' Jerusalem hideout.

Wachsman's mother, Esther, accused Israel's leaders of a lack of candor in dealing with hostage cases.

"I am not calling for the release of murderers, but they (Israel's leaders) should not insult our intelligence because they have negotiated and they have given in to terror," Esther Wachsman wrote.

When it launched its first large-scale military action in Gaza since withdrawing from the strip last summer, Israel's declared purpose was to lean on militants to release Shalit. In statements since, government officials have said the campaign is also meant to disable the Hamas government and stop gunmen from launching rockets at southern Israel.

Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday that "I want nobody to sleep at night in Gaza" until Shalit is freed, according to an official present at the meeting.

Early Monday, Israel massed tanks and troops across from northern Gaza, and pounded the area with artillery. At daybreak, a small force of Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza, but the military said it was a "limited" mission to find explosives and tunnels near the border fence.

Israeli aircraft also struck Palestinian militants carrying anti-tank missiles near Israeli troops in northern Gaza, killing one, the army said.

Israeli troops killed one gunman after he and another militant approached soldiers in northern Gaza, the military said, without providing further details.

Israeli aircraft hit targets around Gaza including a building in Gaza City where the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, has an office, Palestinians and the military said.

No one was in the office and a family living on the first floor escaped harm.

The Palestinian parliament held its first session since Israel arrested dozens of top Hamas officials in the West Bank, including eight Cabinet ministers and 26 lawmakers, late last week. Lawmakers demanded that Israel release Palestinian prisoners as well as the arrested officials.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, whose empty office was hit by Israeli missiles on Sunday, did not attend the session.

Israel has deadline of tonight on soldier
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It's gonna' get ugly.............