PALI KIDNAPPERS TAUNT ISRAEL

Militants taunt Israel over kidnapped soldier
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants involved in the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier taunted the Jewish state on Thursday by saying the conscript could be dead or alive. Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said in a statement that Israel should stop wasting time if it wanted to resolve the crisis over the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit. ...

The spokesman did not say who was holding Shalit after Sunday’s raid by three militant factions an army post near the Gaza border. He set out three scenarios. “Possibility one: the missing soldier, for one reason or another, is dead and maybe there is a morgue available for his body or maybe there is not,” Abu Mujahed said at a news conference. “Possibility two is the soldier is still alive but is suffering a serious injury. Medication might be available or might not be available .... Possibility three is that he is fine but that a long time will pass (before he is released).”

Abu Mujahed reiterated earlier demands from militants that Israel free Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Israel has rejected the demands. “Wasting time is not in their interests,” he said.

SEE ALSO: PA Political Leaders Advocated Kidnapping-for-Hostage Policy - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)
Hamas political leaders have expressed an avowed policy of kidnapping Israeli soldiers as hostages to exchange for terrorists. Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar told Asharq Al-Awsat on March 7, 2006, that Hamas will not hesitate to kidnap Israeli soldiers "to exchange for [Palestinian] prisoners, should the opportunity arise." Interior Minister Saed Siam told Abu Dhabi TV: "It is inevitable to kidnap soldiers to exchange for them."

SEE ALSO: Dennis Ross: Don't Negotiate for Soldier's Release (Jerusalem Post)
Former U.S. envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross said on Thursday that Israel mustn't negotiate for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped on Sunday, as this would only bring about more kidnappings.