Numerous reports in local and world media these
days suggested that Israel and Hamas are talking about some of specific details of a prisoner swap deal this week.
The main hurdles currently lying on the road to an agreement reportedly focus on several key Palestinians and a list of about 120 Palestinians that Israelis are demanded to release in exchange for freeing the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The fact that both Israeli and Hamas officials are remaining stony silent about the deal and not leaking information to the media is perceived by most analysts as a sign that agreement may well be imminent.
However, sources close to the discussion among Israeli inner cabinet told Xinhua that the
deal has not reached a voting phase in Israel, which means even if Israel and Hamas reaches
an agreement in the near future, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still expected to face dramatic debate inside his leading team as well as in the Israeli public.
"BRAIN-STORMING" MEETING AND NEXT
The marathon meetings held by Israeli inner cabinet of seven ministers on Sunday and Monday were just like "brain-storming" discussion and there was no voting process,according to sources close to Netanyahu's office.
During the meetings, Netanyahu told his cabinet colleagues that he is afraid that releasing some of the prisoners demanded by Hamas to the West Bank could break the status quo in
the West Bank where it is fairly quiet and few violent attacks against Israelis happen recently,
said a source who required to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Hamas wants Israel to free up to 1,000 Palestinians in exchange for the captive Israeli
soldier, and the Islamic Hamas movement has reportedly presented a list of 450 names in
Israeli prisons.
When discussing Hamas' requirement during the meetings, Israeli ministers decided to ask
the army to provide with a list of so- called "heavy prisoners" whom Israel demands to be
expelled to the Gaza Strip or abroad and not allowed to return to the West Bank, said the
source.
The ministers also decided to refuse freeing several Palestinians including the head of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Saadat and a top official in the
Fatah movement Marwan Barghouti, the source added.
Israel has relayed its response to Hamas through a German mediator, according to local
media. "The ball is in Hamas' side now, and Israel is waiting," an Israeli official who declined to be named told Xinhua.
A source close to Hamas said that Hamas officials would meet to make their final decision
after receiving Israeli response and he expected that a final decision on the prisoner exchange
would be clear by the end of this week.
Israeli officials assumed that for the next few days, Israel and Hamas will bargain on the
numbers of the to-be-released Palestinians who will be forced to live in Gaza or exiled from
the Palestinian areas, the Israeli source said.
Even if Hamas and Israel reaches an agreement, the agreement has to be handed to Israeli security cabinet for voting and then to the whole cabinet.
PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS IN ISRAEL
As the discussion continues to take place via intermediary between Israel and Hamas,
Israeli lobby groups and concerned citizens in general hope to be able to influence the
composition of any final deal.
For months a tiny group of campaigners has been camped outside the formal residence of
Netanyahu, campaigning for Shalit's release at any cost. And as Israeli government members
discussed their offer earlier this week, hundreds of supporters of Shalit's family gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem in a bid to sway the debate.
Israeli opponents of the deal, meanwhile, took to the airwaves to explain that releasing what they call "murderers" in exchange for Shalit is unacceptable and not a price worth paying.
Israel says many of those that will be freed were involved in the planning or execution of terror
attacks against Israeli civilians.
Political campaign has become a study subject in Israeli universities. Over the course of the current academic year, a group of political science students at the University of Haifa in northern Israel has been involved in a practical course, during which the students have created campaign videos and more regarding Shalit.
Gadi Wolfsfeld, a professor of communication and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the Shalit campaign has been by far the most effective of any staged by Israelis whose loved ones have been captured over the years.
Shalit's parents have not been seen anywhere of late without their media or public relations
adviser at their side. For most of the three years plus since Shalit was captured, the Israeli
public has been of one mind. It has only been in the latter stages of negotiations that opposition has been heard, said Wolfsfeld.
ONE MAN TO DECIDE
One of the problems with the various campaigns concerning Shalit is that at the end of the day it is down to one man to decide what happens, said Israel Waismel-Manor, the course
director. It is unclear how susceptible Benjamin Netanyahu is to opinion polls and public-relations exercises.
"When we're talking about one individual I have no idea what he thinks when he wakes up
in the morning. Maybe he sees things (in the media) that influence him," said Waismel-Manor.
It is a view shared by Wolfsfeld. It is impossible to gauge the effect this has had on the
prime minister, but presumably the higher the pressure, the higher the price, he said.
If the campaign has indeed affected the government and as a result the price for Shalit's
release is higher than it would have been otherwise, then Netanyahu will find himself
bombarded by opponents of the deal the day after it goes ahead, Wolfsfeld argued.
There are plenty of opponents to the likely make-up of the arrangement. It is understood
that of the six ministers who debated the deal with Netanyahu over the course of two days,three were in favor and three against.
This fact leaves the possible voting in Israeli cabinet after the current discussion between Israel and Hamas full of uncertainty.
However, as far as the actual decision-making process is concerned, Waismel-Manor
believes it is right that it is left to the prime minister and not put to a referendum, for example.
"For four years I am meant to be an active citizen. I can demonstrate and protest but when
I voted at the polling station, I was saying 'whomever is elected, was selected by democratic
process to be my prime minister and he has the right to implement anything, whether it's to
hand over territory, to launch military operations or to free soldiers'," said Waismel-Manor.