http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article55901.ece
Israel releases Hamas lawmaker By MOHAMMED MAR'I | ARAB NEWS Published: May 20, 2010 22:32 Updated: May 20, 2010 22:32 RAMALLAH: The Israeli Prison Service released on Thursday Hamas lawmaker Mohammed Abu Tir after serving a sentence of four years. Abu Tir was among 65 top Hamas officials, including ministers of the Hamas government and Parliament members, that were detained by Israeli security forces shortly after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was abducted in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in 2006. Israeli military courts accused them of belonging to an illegal organization, association with a terror group, among other allegations. The officials were bargaining chips Israel hoped to use as leverage in the efforts to secure the release of Shalit. The orange-bearded Hamas lawmaker was imprisoned in Nafha Prison in southern Israel, from whence he was transferred to the Russian Compound in Jerusalem in preparation for his release. Abu Tir was received by a crowd of revelers in a celebration tent at his East Jerusalem home. In the first statement after his release, Abu Tir said: "I don't want Gilad Shalit to remain in captivity, just as I did not like captivity. The Israeli leadership has torpedoed the deal. The Israeli leadership must be realistic in dealing with this matter." "All Israeli leaders are against the deal to release Gilad Shalit. They reached a deal a number of times, but never followed through. Just like I have a family, a father, mother and children, Gilad Shalit also has a mother and father who want him. If only there was a deal, but it's not in my hands; it is in the hands of the leaders." Israel has so far released nine of the Hamas officials jailed after Shalit's abduction. Israeli defense officials said those ministers, including Aziz Dwaik, head of the Hamas Parliament, and former Prisoners Affairs Minister Wasfi Kabaha, had just completed their prison terms and their release was not connected to a prisoner swap deal for Shalit's release. On Wednesday, Israeli Knesset Member Michael Ben-Ari of rightist National Union party pleaded with Defense Minister Ehud Barak not to release Abu Tir. In a letter he sent Barak, Ben Ari said he had been "shocked" to hear of Abu Tir's impending release. Abu Tir's hands, he said, "are soaked with the blood of Jews." Meanwhile, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Hamas government released top officials from the rival movements after mediation from independent Palestinian figures. Palestinian sources said that security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas released Mohammed Ghazal, a member of the Hamas politburo. Hamas said that Ghazal, a lecturer at the engineering faculty in Najah National University, was detained by Abbas' forces in 2008. The movement said that detention of Ghazal "was an attempt by Fatah-controlled PA in Ramallah to eliminate Hamas from the West Bank." In the Gaza Strip, the security forces of the deposed Hamas government released a senior member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
