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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Israel won't kill Hamas military commander

GAZA CITY Ñ Israel has pledged not harm the commander of Hamas's military.   

Palestinian sources said Israel has relayed a pledge to Egypt and the United States that Hamas chief of staff Ahmed Jabari would not be harmed. The sources said the Israeli pledge was elicited as part of negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal.

"The key fear of Jabari and the rest of the Hamas military commander is that after the PoW deal, Israel would try to kill the leadership," a Palestinian source said.

Israel agreed to allow Jabari to emerge from his hiding place, believed to be in Gaza City, and leave for Egypt, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said Jabari went through the Rafah border terminal and arrived in Cairo on March 13 in what was described as a goodwill gesture by Israel.

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Jabari was said to have been directly responsible for captured Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, abducted during a Hamas raid of an Israel Army base outside the Gaza Strip in 2006. Jabari has also approved the list of prisoners Hamas has demanded in exchange for Shalit.

"Jabari also said that he would kill any Hamas leader who tried to free Shalit," a Hamas source familiar with the talks said. "Because Jabari was convinced that Israel would kill him and everybody else after Shalit was let go. He doesn't want to lose that card."

The sources said Jabari Ñ whose colleague, Hamas Interior Minister Said Siyam was killed by Israel in January 2009 Ñ had been the last holdout for a PoW deal with Israel. They said Hamas's No. 2 figure, Mussa Abu Marzouk, was allowed by Israel to visit the Gaza Strip in March to meet Jabari and convince him of the need for the release of up to 1,000 Hamas prisoners.

Jabari has been meeting senior Egyptian officials in Cairo in an effort to facilitate the deal. The sources said Jabari has sought concessions from Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman, who has been leading the talks.



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