Despite reports of a looming Egyptian-mediated prisoner swap deal, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have yet to reach a breakthrough, Khaled Amayreh reports Officials from both the Fatah- dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas-led Palestinian government are blaming Israel for impeding a deal on the release of Palestinian civilians in Israeli prisons in exchange for the return of an Israel soldier captured near Gaza. Palestinians accuse the Ehud Olmert government of indulging in lies and malicious tactics aimed at buying time and frustrating Palestinians and Egyptian mediators. Apparently Egypt and PA President Mahmoud Abbas would like to conclude a prisoner swap deal as soon as possible, and certainly before the conclusion of a ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel. The reason, according to Palestinian sources close to Abbas, is a desire to keep the two issues separate since linking a Palestinian-Israeli prisoner swap with a similar Israel-Hizbullah deal would not be expedient for the Palestinians who, unlike Hizbullah, cannot keep their captured Israeli soldier secure for long. Egyptian and PA officials seem also apprehensive that entwining the two situations could push the entire Palestinian theatre further towards the much-discussed Iran- Hizbullah axis. Such fears are not unrealistic. Indeed, Palestinian popular support for Hizbullah has reached an all-time high, with Palestinians pasting Hassan Nasrallah's portrait and slogans prominently throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. One Palestinian commentator has remarked that Nasrallah is already the most popular leader among Palestinians. This response is natural and predictable. It occurs among a people who for decades have been on the receiving end of Israeli savagery and brutality, who have seen their children terrorised or shot, families decapitated and their brethren exterminated by a criminal Israeli war machine that operates without limits while the rest of the Arab world and the international community watch passively. For its part, the Israeli government, while acknowledging that discussions were continuing with the Egyptians for the purpose of freeing Corporal Shalit -- the Israeli soldier captured near Gaza -- has so far refused to publicly pronounce any willingness to free Palestinian prisoners in return. Indeed, for the time being, Israel remains firmly opposed to any deal that would suggest any semblance of symmetry between the release of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners. According to Israeli sources, Hamas, which is holding Shalit in an unknown location in the Gaza Strip, is demanding that Israel release at least 1000 Palestinian prisoners, detainees and internees in return for the release of the soldier. The list of prisoners whose freedom is sought includes Fatah Secretary-General Marwan Barghouthi, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat, as well as more than 70 Palestinian lawmakers, ministers and other officials the Israeli army took hostage in June, apparently aimed at bullying the Palestinians into releasing Shalit. The list also includes hundreds of children, women and veteran political prisoners held in Israeli jails, many of them without charge or trial. Palestinian officials, especially those affiliated with the Gaza- based government, have sought to downplay expectations of an imminent deal. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh told reporters this week that negotiations in this regard "haven't borne fruit". Similarly, Musa Abu Marzuq, the Damascus-based deputy chief of Hamas's politburo, told reporters that "so far there are no indications that a deal is around the corner." Abu Marzuq added: "There are certain ideas the Egyptian brothers have communicated to the Israelis, but we have not received any response from the Israeli side." According to Israeli press sources, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal whereby Shalit would be transferred to Egyptian custody in exchange for guarantees of the release of an undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas official Osama Al-Mazini dismissed the Israeli proposal as a ploy, warning Israel to "stop trying to be smart with us". Aware of Israel's efforts to gather intelligence information that might lead to discovering the whereabouts of Shalit, which then would enable the Israeli army to retrieve him dead or alive, Hamas has refused to allow any third party contacts with Shalit, including representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Israeli intelligence, especially Shin Bet, Israel's chief domestic intelligence agency, reportedly ordered a maximal activation of its net of informers and collaborators in Gaza in an effort to locate where Shalit is being held. Hamas is aware of this and is refusing to provide even a recent photo to prove that Shalit is alive, fearing that any uncalculated move might compromise the secrecy of Shalit's whereabouts. Meanwhile, the Israeli army arrested Aziz Duweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, at his home in Ramallah earlier this week. Duweik's wife said Israeli troops savagely seized her husband along with two computers and documents pertaining to the Palestinian parliament. The Israeli army also took 68 other leading Palestinian officials, including eight ministers, most of them associated with Hamas. Many of the abducted ministers have been sentenced to six months' administrative detention without charge or trial while others were reportedly tortured and placed in solitary confinement. An Israeli army spokesman said: "We arrested him (Duweik) because he is a leader of Hamas, which is a terrorist organisation." A Hamas official retorted by calling Israel a "Talmudic Nazi state that is hell bent on exterminating the Palestinian people." He added: "There is no terror in the world greater than the terror Israel is wreaking on the Palestinian and Lebanese people," requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. "Even Adolph Hitler, the Gestapo and the SS would feel inferior to what Israel is doing in Gaza and Lebanon." The arrest of Duweik comes as the Israeli army continues to commit daily massacres throughout Gaza, possibly to balance its losses in Lebanon. According to medical sources, the Israeli army murdered at least 20 Palestinians in the Rafah district from Sunday to Tuesday alone. These fresh victims of Israel's slow-pace genocide included a mother and her two children. Indeed, since the capture of Corporal Shalit on 25 June, the Israeli army has murdered as many as 200 Palestinians, including six entire families. Over a thousand others, nearly all of them innocent civilians, were injured, many very badly. Meanwhile, Palestinian doctors are appealing to the world community to pressure Israel to stop using a new and unknown chemical weapon that burns the flesh of victims to the bone. The Israeli army is reportedly using the same lethal weapon in Lebanon with impunity.
