|
Occupied Jerusalem: Israel may free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, an Israeli official told army radio on Saturday.
Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said that the Israeli government is "ready to do a lot to recover Gilad," who was seized in June 2006 in a raid near the Gaza Strip.
"In the past, we freed terrorists with blood on their hands and Barghouti will apparently figure on the list of prisoners that we would be ready to exchange," he said.
Shalit's abduction sparked a full-scale Israeli military invasion of the Gaza Strip in a failed attempt to free him.
Barghuti, a popular leader from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, is serving five life sentences for his involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.
A ministerial committee is considering a prisoner exchange for Shalit, but Israel refuses to free prisoners with "blood on their hands" or those who they claim have killed Israelis.
|
