On the day after Israel’s self-imposed cease-fire in Gaza, a new assessment is emerging in Israel that the recent three-week Israeli Israeli military incursion into Gaza could accelerate a deal for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Cpl. Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas in 2006 and has been held ever since.

The new assessment indicates the hardship and destruction wrought upon Gaza during the Israeli offensive will likely weigh on the Hamas leadership’s resolve.

Therefore, the Israeli security system believes they will try to renew the efforts to reach a deal for releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Cpl. Shalit’s release.

The reopening of six border crossings with Israel might also speed up the talks for renewing the deal by satisfying a key Hamas demand. Presumably, Israel has made it clear to top Egyptian intelligence officials it will not reopen the crossings as long as Cpl. Shalit is being held in Gaza.

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In Cairo, the marathon of talks continued yesterday with the five members of the Hamas delegation from Gaza and Damascus, Syria.

Egypt, it was reported, clarified it would only open the Rafah crossings into its territory “in exceptional humanitarian cases.” Egypt clarified further, in the name of Israel, a deal for Cpl. Shalit’s release would have to be made before an agreement could be reached regarding reopening crossings for the passage of people, goods, foodstuffs, medicines and construction materials for rebuilding Gaza.

Despite the renewed assessment regarding Hamas’ intentions of renewing the prisoner exchange deal, Israeli officials are careful not to paint too optimistic a picture. On one hand, Hamas likely will not back down from its demands to receive convicted murderers in Israeli custody who have been identified with the organization. Achieving their release would create a political achievement on the Gaza street after its military defeat at Israel’s hand.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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