Israeli cabinet approves sanctions on Hamas prisoners

Mar 29, 2009, 14:03 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel's outgoing cabinet voted Sunday to accept recommendations to worsen conditions for Hamas members in Israeli jails, in an effort to pressure the Islamist organization over the release of an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since June 2006.

The sanctions, to go into effect in the near future, include limiting family visits and revoking the opportunity for prisoners to take high school matriculation exams or study at the open university.

Access to radio and television will also be limited.

Justice Minister Daniel Friedman, who chaired a committee which formulated the proposals, said Israel would abide by 'both international and local law.'

Friedman told Israel Radio that while Israel would not prevent the prisoners from receiving visits from the Red Cross, their so-called 'periphery rights' would be affected, since these were optional, rather than obligatory.

'Just because we're the only democracy in the Middle East, doesn't mean we have to be the only suckers. We must not radiate weakness,' he was quoted as telling the ministers.

The cabinet discussion comes amid conflicting reports on whether negotiations to secure the release of Gilad Shalit are about to bear fruit.

Although Ofer Dekel, the special emissary of outgoing Premier Ehud Olmert left Israel for Cairo Saturday night, Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel said the likelihood of a deal being reached on Shalit soon was low.

'The chances of securing Shalit's release in the next two or three days are not high,' he told Israel Army Radio early Sunday.

Hamas said before the Israeli cabinet decision that the sanctions against its prisoners would not cause it to change its demands for a prisoner exchange.

'These procedures will make us stick more to our conditions and demands for the swap, 'Abu Obaida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing, said.

Another member of the military wing, Ra'ed al-Atta, said Saturday that his organization would kidnap more Israeli soldiers if Israel did not accept the Hamas demands.

Shalit was snatched on June 25, 2006, during a cross-border raid militants launched from the Gaza Strip. Since then, he has been held virtually incommunicado somewhere in the salient. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross to visit him.

The previous round of indirect negotiations with Hamas broke down on March 16 and outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out chances of a deal being reached before he left office. His successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, will take office this week.

Hamas, which led the cross-border raid, is demanding the release of some 1,400 Palestinian militants jailed in Israel.

The radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza has insisted on selecting the names of the first 450, which include militants involved in some of Israel's worst suicide attacks. Israel agreed to release only 325 of them.

Hamas official Osama al-Muzini said the main dispute between his movement and Israel was not only over the number of prisoners, but also Israel's insistence that a number of mujahedin (fighters) be deported outside the Palestinian areas.