Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has acknowledged concern over the
release of senior Hamas operatives in a prisoner exchange with Israel.

Officials said the administration of President Barack Obama discussed
the release of Hamas operatives convicted of planning suicide bombings and
other attacks in which Americans were killed. More than a dozen Americans
were killed in Hamas suicide attacks in Israel from 2001 through 2005.

“We have looked at some of these individuals and we’ve communicated our
position after we became aware that specific individuals have been
identified as part of this release,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner
said.

In a briefing on Oct. 18, Toner said the administration objected to the
release of some of the Hamas insurgents as part of a deal to free Israel
Army Sgt. Gilad Shalit. He said the unnamed insurgents, part of 1,027
Palestinians released, were regarded as a threat to the United States.
“We had concerns in both spheres,” Toner said.

Officials said President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton supported the prisoner exchange with Hamas. But they said the
Israeli release of those who killed Americans could pose difficulties.
The State Department also disassociated itself from the transfer of 40
Hamas operatives to such U.S. allies as Qatar and Turkey. One of the Hamas
members sent to Turkey had been sentenced by Israel to 1,600 years for
planning the killing of scores of people.

“We had no role,” Toner said.

U.S. analysts expressed concern that the prisoner exchange could make
Americans vulnerable to abductions. They said the release of members of a
group deemed terrorist by Washington and the European Union could also harm
international counter-insurgency efforts.

“I condemn the taking of hostages in the first place,” Middle East
Institute president Wendy Chamberlin, a former U.S. diplomat, said. “I hope
these kinds of swaps don’t set a precedent for the future.”

U.S. law bans the release of those convicted of terrorism. Analysts said
the Israeli government appeared to have violated international law by
releasing Hamas members convicted of killing non-Israelis.

“Under international law, Netanyahu’s impending exchange, effectively
analogous to a mass pardoning of criminals, would implicate the Jewish state
for a ‘denial of justice,'” Louis Renes Beres, a professor of international
law at Purdue University, said.

  Hamas, Israel, Obama administration objects to Israel’s release of Hamas insurgents, terrorism, U.S.