Hard bargaining

The last mile is the hardest: negotiations intensify as Israel and Hamas move towards sealing a prisoner swap deal, writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem

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Exhaustive last minute bargaining between Hamas and Israel over a prospective prisoner exchange deal was continuing unabated under the auspices of German mediator Ernst Urlau. Urlau arrived in Gaza Monday, 30 November, and held intensive talks with a number of Hamas officials. The tight-lipped German mediator refused to comment on the content of the talks. However, Hamas officials described the last minute bargaining as "intensive, exhaustive and delicate". They suggested that the gap between the two sides had been narrowed significantly and that a deal was within reach in the coming few days or weeks.

Earlier, an Israeli television channel quoted unnamed officials close to the German-mediated talks as saying that a deal with Hamas was "very, very close". However, Hamas officials in Gaza were less optimistic, saying there was still disagreement between the two sides on the fate of as many as 50-70 Palestinian prisoners whom Hamas insists must be released from Israeli jails. Fathi Hammad, the interior minister of the Gaza-based Palestinian government, was quoted as saying that a deal would be reached by the end of the year. Hammad, nevertheless, blamed Israel for hindering the talks through procrastination and other delay tactics.

In a message to the families of the estimated 10,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails, Hammad said he hoped that a deal would be concluded by 14 December, which marks the anniversary of Hamas's foundation. By Wednesday, 2 December, the number of Palestinian prisoners over whose fate negotiations were stuck was reduced from 50 to 15. Among these are former Hamas commander in Jenin, Jamal Abul-Heijah, and Hassan Salameh, another prominent guerrilla leader. The former was sentenced to nine life terms for his role in carrying out resistance attacks inside Israel. The latter was given 38 life sentences for similar charges.

Hamas sources in Gaza said the group wanted to see the release of the prisoners coincide with the first anniversary of the Israeli winter 2008 campaign on Gaza that killed and maimed thousands of Gazans and caused widespread destruction to civilian homes, public buildings and infrastructure. However, reliable sources in Gaza told Al-Ahram Weekly that although significant progress was being made and the gap between the two sides has narrowed, Hamas wouldn't agree to reach a compromise concerning the release of several prominent political and resistance prisoners.

Hamas's representative in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, told the London-based Arabic daily, Al-Hayat, that Israel was sabotaging the talks and imperilling the prospects of concluding a deal by procrastinating on earlier understandings to release specific prisoners Israel argues have Jewish blood on their hands. It is widely believed that Hamdan was alluding to several prisoners with multiple life sentences, such as Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamad, Mohamed Al-Sayed and Ahlam Tamimi. Israeli military courts convicted these activists for masterminding a series of martyrdom operations that killed many Israelis, including civilians. Hamas argues that these operations were retaliation for the wanton and deliberate killing by Israeli troops of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

Earlier in the week, Israeli media quoted judicial officials as saying that Israel would release 980 Palestinian prisoners. However, no names have been officially announced. The Israeli State Prosecution Office said in response to a petition that Israel was likely to release the 450 prisoners requested by Hamas in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured by Hamas near the Gaza Strip three years ago. Following this step, the office said Israel would free another 530 Palestinian political and resistance prisoners as "a gesture of goodwill" to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

It is not clear if this "goodwill gesture" would be part of a larger arrangement that would also include PA agreement to return to stalled peace talks with Israel.

On Tuesday, 1 December, the Israeli court rejected a petition by rightwing activists to release information about the evolving deal with Hamas, ruling that such a move would run counter to Israeli security considerations. One of the petitioners pointed out that the Israeli government was deliberately refusing to disclose names of the Palestinians who would be released.

Petitions to Israeli courts by rightwing circles are routine public relations feats that are often coordinated with Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency, and are primarily aimed at helping Israeli negotiators by showing that the government is coming under tremendous public pressure and therefore can't meet all the demands of the other side.

However, it seems Hamas has not fallen prey to any of these tricks, given the group's consistent clinging to its original demands. While efforts to conclude a deal may well have reached the "point of no return", both Israel and Hamas are trying hard to wrest maximal concessions from each other, even at the price of giving the impression that the talks are doomed. Hamas's official in Gaza Ahmed Youssef described the Israeli negotiation behaviour as amounting to "putting old oil in new bottles".

"They [Israel] want to exhaust and frustrate Hamas to give in and concede on its original demands. But that is not going to happen because all our brothers in Zionist jails are viewed as equal. We don't pay any attention to Israeli classifications of prisoners as some having blood on their hands and others who don't. You know Israeli soldiers and officers have tons upon tons of Palestinian blood on their hands. Israel is in no moral or legal position to lecture us on terror and murder since Israel itself is a crime against humanity."

Asked for his personal opinion on whether a prisoner deal was imminent, Youssef said: "I am sorry to disappoint you. There will be a deal eventually, of course, but not in the next few days or even next few weeks. The Israelis are masters of deceit and prevarication, and we will not be tricked by them. We, too, are tough negotiators."