'Barghouti has no blood on his hands'

Former Shin Bet chief Ayalon presses for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
barghouti prison 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
barghouti prison 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
"[Jailed Tanzim leader] Marwan Barghouti led a campaign of terror, but he himself does not have blood on his hands," MK and former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon (Labor) said Friday. Moreover, Ayalon told Israel Radio that Israel should discuss the release of Palestinian prisoners who have murdered Israelis "if the Shin Bet believes that they will not return to their terrorist ways."
  • Dahlan: Prisoner swap unlikely in near future The former Shin Bet head also called for the immediate evacuation of the contested home in Hebron since "its occupation is bound to hinder negotiations to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit."
  • Ayalon and Paz-Pines call on Labor to bolt gov't over Hebron Meanwhile, head of the Egyptian security delegation in the Gaza Strip, General Burhan Hamed, said that he would meet next week with Israeli representatives to hear Israel's position on the list of prisoners the Palestinians wanted freed in an deal for Schalit. In an interview with the Hamas journal A-Risallah published Friday, Hamed noted that Israel had still not responded to the list, but emphasized that negotiations had not failed. Likewise, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, Osama al-Mazini, said Thursday that the group had not received an official response from Israel regarding the list of prisoners. Nevertheless, Mazini said that Israel had "no choice other than to accept the list because there will not be another one."