Gov't officials: Hamas feeling pressure
By HERB KEINON AND YAAKOV KATZ
Hamas's sudden thrust to place the Gilad Schalit issue back on center stage shows the organization is feeling intense pressure to "deliver" something significant for the Palestinians following their violent takeover of Gaza, senior government officials said Tuesday.
"Hamas has taken over Gaza but can't stand and deliver anything," the officials said. "This is their only card. And they are coming under pressure to use it to bring about the release of Palestinian prisoners."
The pressure on Hamas is now even greater, according to the officials, because of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision announced at Sham e-Sheikh on Monday to unilaterally release 250 Fatah prisoners. Olmert said he will bring the decision to the cabinet on Sunday.
Government sources said that the cabinet would be asked to vote on the prisoner release and would draw up the criteria governing which prisoners were to be freed. Olmert said that only Fatah prisoners "without blood on their hands" would be released.
Once the cabinet draws up the criteria, security officials - not the government ministers - will come up with the names of those to be released. No timetable has yet been set for the release.
Hamas, meanwhile, continued its apparent pressure to push through a prisoner exchange, with senior Hamas official Osama al-Mizayni saying Tuesday that Schalit has still not recovered from the wounds he sustained during his capture, adding that there was no doubt the soldier required medical treatment.
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1) Gov't officials: Hamas feeling pressure
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