Hamas asks for release of Barghouti in exchange for Gilad Schalit

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The terrorist Hamas group has added the most prominent Palestinian prisoner held by Israel to a list of people it wants released in exchange for captured IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, a senior Hamas official said Tuesday. Mohammed Nazzal, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said Marwan Barghouti is one of a number of prisoners the group wants Israel to free in exchange for Schalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked terrorists in June 2006. "Barghouti's name was on Hamas's list of prisoners it demanded be released in exchange for Schalit," Nazzal told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Nazzal did not indicate whether the list had been sent to the Israelis. A senior Israeli government official told the AP in Jerusalem on Tuesday that Barghouti's release was not on the table at the current time. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.