Israeli statements about burying the bodies of 19 Palestinians killed during al-Asf al-Maakoul battle in 2014 raised questions about the possibility of new talks between Israel and the Palestinian resistance to conduct a new swap deal in exchange for the Israeli soldiers missing in Gaza.
In their statements, experts and political analysts unanimously agreed that Israel's announcement of burying the bodies of martyrs killed during al-Asf al-Maakoul battle comes in the framework of the Israeli efforts to conduct negotiations over its missing soldiers in Gaza.
Mustafa al-Sawaf, a writer and a political analyst, believes that these announcements indicate that Israel started to put an end to the denial and neglect it has been showing recently.
Haaretz Hebrew newspaper unveiled on Wednesday April 1 that the Israeli army is holding the bodies of 19 Gazan martyrs killed during the last war on the Strip, according to the Israeli Ministry of War.
Four days ago, the Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) checked the lists of the Palestinian martyrs buried in the so-called cemeteries of numbers to consider the possibility of handing over their bodies.
German mediation
Al-Sawaf pointed out that this news report affirms the information he already has in this regard, and mentioned that the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked German mediators to intervene in the expected swap deal, and pointed to the Egyptian intelligence possible contacts with Hamas over the new swap deal.
A German delegation contacted a Hamas prominent figure as a prelude for a visit which may have already been made, the Palestine information reporter said.
During the preparation of this report; a delegation of five German diplomats arrived in Gaza through Erez crossing, according to sources.
Negotiations' price
Professor of mass media studies Iyad al-Qara agreed with al-Sawaf in believing that Israel is trying to activate this file especially after the information leakage regarding the Israeli attempts to pressure European parties to contact Hamas so as to know the fate of the Israeli soldiers; however, Hamas demanded the release of all Palestinian prisoners who were arrested during last year as a precondition for taking part in any new swap deal talks.
He also highlighted that Netanyahu is keen on achieving this goal which would make him look like a hero especially that the soldiers went missing during his presidency of the government.
Ibrahim al-Madhoun, a writer and a researcher, said: "Hamas has learned a lesson from Shalit deal which is not to reveal any information without a price," and added: " Israel has woken up from the shock of losing a huge number of its soldiers in al-Asf al-Maakoul battle, internal political changes have taken place, a new government was re-elected in addition to the pressure practiced by the missing soldiers' families, all these factors led to forcing Israel to deal with this issue differently."
The experts and researchers agreed on the need for benefiting from the experience of the previous negotiations which led to Wafa al-Ahrar swap deal, and stressed the importance of having guarantees from Israel not to re-arrest the released prisoners.
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source : Palestine Info
Saturday
4 April 2015
6:30:14 AM
681026
Israeli statements about burying the bodies of 19 Palestinians killed during al-Asf al-Maakoul battle in 2014 raised questions about the possibility of new talks between Israel and the Palestinian resistance ....