Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Breakthrough for Gilad Shalit's release outcome of US deal with Hamas

http://www.debka.com/article/21374/
Breakthrough for Gilad Shalit's release outcome of US deal with Hamas
DEBKAfile Special Report October 11, 2011, 9:40 PM (GMT+02:00)
Gilead Shalit on his way home
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reported to the hastily convened full 
government session Monday night, Oct. 11 that the deal with Hamas for 
bringing Gilad Shalit home within days was initialed Thursday and signed 
Monday, Oct. 11. It was the best possible, he said although the agreed 
price for the swap is heavy: one thousand jailed Palestinian terrorists, 
including 60 convicted on multiple murders, who will be exiled to the 
Gaza Strip and Arab countries.
DEBKAfile discloses that secret clauses of the transaction for 
recovering the Israel soldier, whom Hamas kept hidden for five years, 
were finalized between the United States, Egypt, Israel and Hamas during 
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's visits to Israel and Egypt on Sept. 3-4.
Those clauses, negotiated directly between Panetta and Hamas' political 
chief Khaled Meshaal, entailed the shutting down of Hamas headquarters 
in Damascus in order to undercut Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and 
Hizballah and loosen their hold on the Palestinians. Meshaal who visited 
Tehran a week ago agreed to gradually downgrade his ties with Iran in 
return for American patronage of Hamas.
Netanyahu told the Israeli ministers that he had faced a tough dilemma 
between rescuing the Israeli soldier and national security and a balance 
was hard to strike. But his commitment to saving Gilad Shalit was 
absolute. The "window of opportunity" presented now may never recur, he 
warned, given the turbulence besetting the Middle East. He therefore 
asked the ministers for their unanimous endorsement of the swap.
During the cabinet meeting, three ministers, Silvan Shalom, Moshe Yaalon 
and Avigdor Lieberman, voiced reservations in view of the high risk of 
setting so many terrorists loose.
That window, DEBKAfile reports, was the deal the Obama administration 
had reached with Hamas leaders and their parent, the Egyptian Muslim 
Brotherhood's rift with Tehran.
The Prime Minister thanked the Egyptian government and intelligence 
agencies for their great contribution toward brokering the deal. He also 
voiced appreciation for the efforts of the German mediator and 
Chancellor Angela Merkel who gave the process her wholehearted support.
Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped in a cross-border raid from Gaza five 
years ago, and held without any visitors including the Red Cross every 
since, will first be transferred from Gaza to Cairo to await Israel's 
release of the first batch of 450 Palestinian prisoners.
The remaining 550 prisoners will be freed after the soldier arrives 
home. This is the heaviest price Israel has ever paid for any soldiers 
in Arab captivity.
As to the backdoor diplomacy leading to Gilad Shalit's release, 
DEBKAfile further discloses that recognizing the rising electoral 
strength of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Salafi allies in Egypt's 
forthcoming parliamentary elections next month, the Obama administration 
entered into active dialogue with its leaders to draw them away from 
Tehran and bring them close to the ruling military junta and Washington.
Shortly before Panetta arrived in the Middle East, a US diplomat 
revealed that US officials had arrived in Cairo on Oct. 2 for talks with 
Brotherhood representatives. The American side was headed by Prem. G. 
Kumar, the National Security Council Director for Israeli and 
Palestinian Affairs at the White House.
This was the first clue that the White House was after a deal not only 
with the Brotherhood but also its Palestinian offshoot Hamas, part of 
which was to be the release of the Israeli soldier.
Two days later, on Oct. 4, the US Defense Secretary arrived to seal the 
accord while in another part of Cairo, the Israeli prime minister's 
personal representative David Meidan and the commander of Hamas' 
military wing, Ezz a-din al Qassam, Mohammed Jabry, hammered out the 
minutiae of the prisoner exchange for Shalit's release.
Netanyahu referred to the heavy price Israel was paying in terms of 
security by letting a thousand terrorists walk free - scores much 
Israeli blood on their hands. But he also paid a heavy political price: 
Israel's acceptance of the United States' rapprochement with the 
Egyptian Muslim brothers - henceforth dubbed in Obama administration 
parlance a "moderate Muslim force."
Israel can only hope that this gamble pays off.
By procuring the release of 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails, Hamas 
has outperformed its rival, the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud 
Abbas as the lead champion of the Palestinian cause. After defying the 
Obama administration by applying for UN recognition for Palestinian 
statehood, Abbas is now getting his punishment.
-- 
Namib
"Per realitatem et perfectionem idem intelligo" (Baruch Spinoza)

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