Tel Aviv will not release Barghouti and Saadat

Middle East Monitor

November 25, 2009

Tel Aviv has officially announced that it will not release Marwan Al Barghouti, Fatah's Secretary General in the West Bank, and Ahmed Saadat, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the context of the prisoner swap deal with Hamas, which is being negotiated through Egyptian-German mediation.

In a statement that was broadcast Monday night, Israel's Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said that the Israeli government will not agree to release Al Barghouti and Saadat in the context of the prisoner swap deal with Hamas. He didn't provide further details.

In the same context, the Israeli "National Union" bloc expressed its opposition to the release of "terrorists" in the deal through which Israel aims at the release of the captive solider Gilad Shalit.

The bloc's head Yakov Katz said that Israel has to change its approach regarding kidnapping, stressing that if the Prime Minister changes his stance, he has to bravely face the bereaved families.

The vice head of the same parliamentary bloc, Arieh Eldad, said, "Netanyahu is crossing (former PM Ehud) Olmert's red lines. Netanyahu does not stop at red light; not even Olmert's red light." He added that the people will be shocked when they learn that murderers who are planned to be released in the context of the swap deal.