Source: Ha'aretz
Apr 01, 2007
A group of Hamas-affiliated terrorists are refusing to refusing to conclude any deal that would see them free a captured IDF soldier, fearing that Israel would then launch military reprisals against them.
The terrorists abducted IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25, 2006, and have been holding him in the Gaza Strip ever since.
Egypt has since been working feverishly to broker a deal that would see Israel free as many as 1,500 jailed terrorists in return for Shalit.
Ignoring official Israeli policy, and unwilling to secure Shalit's freedom by force, the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had tacitly agreed to the deal.
But now the terrorists are refusing to release the list of prisoners they want released, effectively creating a deadlock.
"Palestinian" officials told Ha'aretz that the terrorists are afraid that once Shalit is no longer in their hands, the IDF will be unleashed against them.