The kidnapped IDF soldier: Updates

Cpl. Shalit is reportedly being held by senior Hamas terrorists.

Abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit is being held in the Gaza Strip by senior members of Hamas’ armed wing, a senior military intelligence officer said Monday afternoon.

[…] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Shalit is being held by a group of Hamas members Israel has not identified. He emphasized that “the government sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for the life of the kidnapped soldier.”

The intelligence officer said, “at the moment there are differences between Hamas’ military wing and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh [of Hamas] over how to confront the Shalit matter. Haniyeh is seeking to solve the problem together with Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] as quickly as possible.”

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas’ political bureau, is also involved in the process.

According to the intelligence officer, the terrorists’ original plan was to kidnap an IDF soldier, present him at a press conference and use him as a bargaining chip in demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. However, once the gunmen abducted Shalit, “they realized they were holding a hot potato.”

Israeli forces are positioning along the Gaza border. The AP headline is in its trademark non-biased fashion:

Israeli Makes Threat Over Captured Soldier
Israel massed troops Monday along the Gaza Strip border in preparation for what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said would be a “broad and ongoing” operation against Palestinian militants following the abduction of an Israeli soldier.

Olmert issued the threat as Israeli and Palestinian officials furiously worked diplomatic channels to gain the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, a dual French-Israeli citizen who was seized in a cross-border raid on Sunday.

Speaking to a tourism conference in Jerusalem, Olmert said Israel’s patience was wearing thin and that he held the entire Palestinian leadership responsible for Shalit’s safety.

“I gave the orders to our military commanders to prepare the army for a broad and ongoing military operation to strike the terrorist leaders and all those involved,” he said. “It should be clear. There will be immunity for no one.”

Let me interpret that last line for you: “We’re going to start killing the top Hamas leaders if they don’t give us our boy back.”

The situation could easily erupt into a major Gaza operation. The question is, will Olmert keep his word and refuse to negotiate for Cpl. Shalit’s return?

Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat, a close aide to Abbas, called for restraint “at a time when President Abbas is exerting maximum efforts in order to acquire the release of the soldier, alive and unharmed.”

The tensions have raised the possibility that Israel could renew its policy of assassinating Hamas political leaders, a practice Israel halted after a February 2005 cease-fire.

Hamas lawmaker Mushir al Masri warned Israel against any “stupid acts.”

“This will blow up the area again,” he said. “We also warn the Zionists against assassinating any leader because we believe the armed wings of the resistance groups will not remain silent.”

Pinhas Inbari thinks the attack was made to derail the vote on the prisoner’s document.

The June 25 Palestinian attack from the Gaza Strip on an IDF military post inside Israel is directly connected to the Hamas-Fatah struggle over the “Prisoners Document,” which may be put to a Palestinian referendum. The core of that document calls for the unification of all armed factions to carry out joint operations against Israel. What remains in dispute is who exactly will lead the new unified front. Essentially, Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas’ Damascus-based political bureau, is telling Fatah that it will not determine for the Palestinians how to conduct the “resistance.”

Al-Aksa is threatening to use chemical and biological weapons if the IDF invades Gaza:

According to the statement, the first of its kind, the group has managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons.

The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to Kassam rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day. It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip.

I’m of the opinion that it’s all talk and no walk, but still, the threat has been made.

An interesting analysis of Israel’s “hostage syndrome.” Don’t know that I agree with anything it says, but it’s worth the read.