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Bloomberg Printer-Friendly Page Page 1 of 1 Israel Says Hamas Must Free Shalit or Risk Worse Deal (Update2) Share | Email | Print | A A A By Jonathan Ferziger March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli envoys told Hamas that time is running out to reach an agreement that would free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. “We want to bring Gilad home and we’re making an enormous, unprecedented effort to do it,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in broadcast remarks at the beginning of his weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Yuval Diskin, head of Israel’s Shin-Bet security service, and government negotiator Ofer Dekel conveyed the message through Egyptian mediators today that the Palestinian Islamic movement will no longer be dealing with Olmert if it doesn’t accept a deal now, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to assemble a new government to succeed Olmert as prime minister, will probably demand a tougher deal, analysts said. Olmert is ready to release about 450 Palestinians in exchange for Shalit, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. “Hamas may go for it because they know that it will be much more difficult to free their prisoners under Netanyahu,” Ephraim Kam, an intelligence specialist at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, said in a telephone interview. “The people he’s probably going to have in his Cabinet are going to be much more reluctant to release Hamas prisoners than Olmert is.” Hamas Demands A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip said there’s been no word from Egypt that Israel accepted the group’s conditions, which include the release of 450 Hamas prisoners as well as any women, children and leaders of Palestinian factions in Israeli jails. “These are final and unalterable conditions,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Hamas military wing, told reporters in Gaza City. Diskin and Dekel are expected back from Egypt later today and will report to the Cabinet in a special session tomorrow, which could be the last Cabinet meeting before Olmert steps aside, Regev said. “Because we are heading to the last days of this government, whatever will not be decided in the coming days, will have to be deferred to Israel’s incoming government,” he said. The Cabinet ministers “will be briefed on the state of the talks and, if need be, take decisions.” Shalit, 22, was captured outside the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2006, in a cross-border raid by Palestinian militants. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and European Union. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at [email protected]. Last Updated: March 15, 2009 11:08 EDT Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Trademarks http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&refer=home&sid=avi.CWwW... 16/03/2009.

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