Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — Israel, amid efforts to restrict prisoner exchanges, faces the prospect of another massive release of Palestinian insurgents.

Israeli sources said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was examining Hamas demands for the release of at least hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners.

The sources said Hamas relayed its demands in wake of the abduction of three Jewish teenagers, one of them an American, near their school on June 12.

“It is crystal clear that Israel will respond to a demand to free
prisoners in return for the three if it has assurances that they are alive
and well, and not God forbid, if they are no longer with us,” Israeli
military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai said.

The sources said the discussions in the Cabinet, which took place on
June 14, included the prospect of releasing leading Hamas and Fatah
prisoners, including those convicted of security offenses over the last two
years. In 2011, Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinians, including
Hamas operatives convicted of mass-casualty bombings over the last decade.

So far, Hamas has not claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. On
June 11, Israel’s parliament, in a bid to restrict prisoner exchanges,
passed the first reading of a bill that would prevent the release of those
convicted of killing children.

“As long as we don’t know otherwise, our working assumption is that they
are among the living,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.

The government has not acknowledged the prospect of another mass
release. But Netanyahu indicated that Hamas might have been responsible for
the abduction.

“Our young people have been abducted by a terrorist organization,”
Netanyahu said. “This is absolutely clear.”

In a statement on June 14, Netanyahu said the military and intelligence
community have been searching for the youngsters. The prime minister
demanded assistance from the PA to locate the abductees, who marked the 14th
Palestinian kidnapping attempt in 2014.

“We hold Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and the Palestinian
Authority responsible for all attacks against Israel that originate from
their territory, whether this is Judea and Samaria or the Gaza Strip,”
Netanyahu said. “The claim that the Palestinian Authority is not responsible
because the event occurred in an area under Israeli control is baseless.”

The three Israelis — identified as Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and
Naftali Frankel — were believed abducted when they waited for a hitch at a
junction south of Bethlehem. Within hours, Israeli troops began searching
homes in Dura, a town southwest of Hebron, the last known location of the
youngsters.

“We are concentrating all of our intelligence efforts on trying to track
down the missing individuals,” Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen.
Mordechai Almoz said.

  Israel faces another mass release of Palestinian prisoners after abduction of Jewish teens, Moshe Ya’alon, Ron Ben-Yishai