By Stan Goodenough
Jan 08, 2008
In what many believed was a given and a mere matter of time Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti - serving five life sentences for the murder of four Israelis - is reportedly to be set free.
In return the Hamas terrorist organization - purportedly a fierce enemy of Fatah from whom it stole the Gaza Strip last year - will release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit, who is believed to have been wounded by his kidnappers has been held in cruel captivity since June 2006, permitted no visitors, not even from the Red Cross.
News about the imminent "swap" was first reported Tuesday in the "Palestinian" newspaper Al-Hayat, which quoted Egyptian officials.
It comes just days after Israeli Interior Minister Avi Dichter called Barghouti "a killer with thick blood on his hands" and vowed that he would be left to rot in prison "to his last day on earth."
But appeasing fellow ministers Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Infrastructure) and Matan Vilnai (Deputy Defense) have already been pushing to get Barghouti - who is wildly popular on the "Palestinian" street - out of jail.
Ben-Eliezer said Sunday he was "fighting for [the terrorist's] release so that we will have someone who is able to discuss a permanent [Israeli-'Palestinian'] agreement with us."