HAMAS LEADER OFFERS PARTIAL CEASE-FIRE, DENIES HOLOCAUST

Mashaal offers to stop civilian attacks (JPost)
Hamas has offered Israel a deal in which both sides would refrain from attacking civilian targets, the group's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal said.

In an interview with Sky News broadcast Monday, Mashaal said the offer was identical to one made to Israel 10 years ago.

"We renew our offer to Israel to let the civilians on both sides not be a part of this conflict," he said. "We renew this offer today."

Mashaal asserted that if the IDF refrained from killing any Palestinian civilians, Hamas would only carry out attacks against Israeli military targets.

Mashaal went on to confirm that captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive...

Mashaal continued by saying that Hamas believed the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was "exaggerated."

"We don't deny the Holocaust, but we believe the Holocaust was exaggerated by the Zionist movement to whip up people," he said. "We don't deny the fact but we don't accept two issues. We don't accept the exaggerating of numbers and we don't accept that Israel uses this to do what it wants."

HAMAS THREATENS TO KIDNAP MORE ISRAELI SOLDIERS

Hamas Threatens to Abduct More Israeli Soldiers
Hamas will abduct more IDF soldiers if Israel does not answer its demands to free hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in return for freeing Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Osama al-Zeini, the Hamas official in charge of the "Shalit file," said in an interview published Saturday in Palestine, a newspaper affiliated with Hamas. (Jerusalem Post)

ISRAEL MAY DECLARE TWO KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS DEAD, HAVE DEAL FOR ANOTHER

Shalit Deal: 230 Terrorists to Hamas (IRIS)
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on the identities of 230 Palestinian prisoners to be freed as part of a deal to secure the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Army Radio reported Monday morning.

According to the report, disputes remain regarding 120 additional prisoners the group is demanding be freed in the first stage of the deal - prisoners Israel has thus far refused to release.

Progress in the negotiations was reportedly made after a decision by a special ministerial committee to relax the criteria for defining a prisoner with "blood on his hands." Initially, Israel was only willing to release 44 prisoners on the Hamas list.

Report: Israel to declare Lebanon hostages dead (JTA)
A German magazine said Israel plans to declare dead two soldiers who were abducted by Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's administration will soon go public with its assessments that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, two army reservists seized by Hezbollah in a July 2006 border raid, are dead, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported over the weekend.

Israeli officials said there was no formal change to Jerusalem's policy that Goldwasser and Regev should be considered alive unless proven otherwise, and the soldiers' families dismissed the Der Spiegel report as speculative.

Germany has been key to efforts to mediate an Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner swap under which the soldiers would be returned home.

Hezbollah has refused to give any information on the condition of Goldwasser or Regev.

Israeli security sources believe that one or both of the men may have been killed during their kidnapping, given the amount of ordnance used against their convoy as it patrolled the Lebanese border.

Der Spiegel regularly runs stories about the Middle East and is believed to have high-placed government sources in Israel.

HAMAS LEADERS GO UNDERGROUND; THREATEN SHALIT

Hamas leaders go underground (JTA)
Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip have gone into hiding for fear they could be targeted for assassination by Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas politician in Gaza, and the commander of the Islamist group's terrorist operations, Ahmed Jaabari, disappeared from public view this week, Palestinian sources said Monday.

The move appeared to be a response to Israel's decision to step up airstrikes and other pinpoint military operations against Hamas following its cross-border rocket salvos.

Israeli security sources said there is an extensive "hit list" of Hamas members involved in the fighting but that politicians are unlikely to be attacked at this stage.

Israel is reluctant to escalate confrontations to a point that would prompt Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to abandon peace talks. It is also mindful of the fate of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas-led gunmen in Gaza.

'Forget about Gilad Schalit if Hamas leaders are killed' (JPost)

Official in Gaza tells Post that negotiations to release abducted IDF soldier have been temporarily suspended.

HOW TO TURN GAZA OVER TO EGYPT

How to Turn Gaza Over to Egypt - Daniel Pipes
Given that Gazans have shown themselves incapable of responsible self-rule and Cairo has tacitly allowed the smuggling of arms since 2000, Mubarak needs to be made responsible for Gaza. Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy suggests to me that Jerusalem announce a date certain for the severing of Israel's provision of water, electricity and trade access. Once Jerusalem cuts supplies, Cairo has no choice but to furnish them. In the end, Arab solidarity demands that Egyptian "brothers" fill in for the Israeli enemy. (Jerusalem Post)

SEE ALSO: Hamas Planned to Abduct Egyptian Soldiers (AKI-Italy)

The Islamist Hamas movement planned the abduction of Egyptian soldiers patrolling the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt, sources close to the Egyptian government have told the Arab website Elaph. The abductions were to be carried out with the intention of exchanging the soldiers for Hamas operatives arrested in Egypt.

IS A SHALIT DEAL NEAR?

Progress in Shalit talks (JTA)
Israel and Hamas appear to be nearing a deal for the return of captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved in principle the release of some Palestinian prisoners "with blood on their hands" as part of a future Egyptian-mediated exchange in which Shalit would be returned, Israeli security sources said Monday.

Hamas wants Israel to free 1,400 prisoners, among them senior terrorists, as ransom for Shalit, who was abducted to the Gaza Strip by Hamas-led gunmen in June 2006. Olmert has balked at granting an amnesty to Palestinians jailed for deadly attacks, and it is not clear how many could be released under his new directives.

Security sources said the Prisons Service would assemble a list of candidates that would be voted on by the Cabinet.

Israel may ultimately free as many as 1,000 prisoners, though most of them would not be senior terrorists, sources said.

Ma'ariv reported that Hamas passed Shalit's family a signed letter by the captive soldier in a show of goodwill. Shalit's family declined comment.

HEZBOLLAH PROMISES TO KIDNAP MORE ISRAELIS

Hizb'allah: We will kidnap more Israeli soldiers (JNW)
Lebanon's terrorist Hizb'allah organization said Tuesday it was ready to kidnap more Israeli soldiers as it had Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in July 2006.

Their abduction triggered the Second Lebanon War in the summer of that year; a war Israel is widely considered to have lost.

Addressing the media, Hizb'allah deputy leader Naim Kassem stressed that the group would not drop its demand for the release of a single one of the Lebanese terrorists held by Israel in exchange for the two Israelis.

"We will continue the forceful position that influences the exchange equation, and from the position of patience, considering our steps and sure to reach results." he said.

Kassem's word come days after supreme Hizb'allah leader Hassan Nasrallah gloated in graphic detail on Lebanese television about the body parts of Israeli soldiers he was holding.

Whether "Palestinians," Syrians, Egyptians or Lebanese, Israel's Arab enemies have frequently down the years exhibited unrestrained bloodlust and perverse pleasure in its handling if captured, wounded and dead Jewish soldiers.

WARNINGS OF TERROR AND KIDNAPPINGS IN AND FROM SINAI

Warning: Palestinian Terrorists Seek to Kidnap Israelis in Sinai and Bring Them to Gaza (Prime Minister's Office)
Warnings of terrorist attacks in Sinai have recently intensified. Terrorists in Sinai are working to abduct Israelis in Sinai and convey them to Gaza. The currently open border between Gaza and Sinai makes it easier for terrorists to move back and forth.  Therefore, Israel's National Security Council Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday called on Israelis to avoid visiting Sinai and any Israelis currently there should leave forthwith.

See also Palestinian Terrorist Groups Planning Attacks from Sinai - Amir Oren (Ha'aretz)

Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza have used the newly open border with Egypt to send numerous terrorists into Sinai over the last two days with the goal of reaching Israel to commit attacks, Israeli defense officials said Thursday. Defense officials said the terrorists in Sinai are most likely to try to strike immediately, and almost certainly within the next two weeks.

GOT 2

Israeli airstrike kills 2 Gaza terrorists (JTA)
An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip. Military aircraft attacked a car near the Gaza City home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh early Monday, killing two occupants and critically wounding a third.

Palestinian authorities identified one of the dead men as a leader of the Army of Islam, a fringe faction that was involved in the 2006 abduction to Gaza of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The second fatality was a wanted member of Al-Aksa Brigades.

HEZBOLLAH CLAIMS TO HAVE KIDNAPPED IDF SOLDIERS

Nasrallah: Hizbullah Has Bodies of Abducted IDF Troops - Yoav Stern
Hizbullah has in its possession the bodies of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldiers and has attempted to use them as part of prisoner swap negotiations, the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday. IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hizbullah militants in a cross-border raid into Israel that sparked the Second Lebanon War in 2006. (Ha'aretz)

ISRAEL PROTESTS U.N. REPORT WHICH IGNORES KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS

Israel protests UN report which ignores kidnapped IDF soldiers (YNet)
The Israeli delegation to the UN protested the fact that the latest UN report on the Middle East totally overlooks the issue of IDF soldiers being held hostage in Lebanon on Wednesday. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman passed a letter on to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon which stated that "the international community must be aware of this grave situation especially since their condition and location are still unknown."

PALI KIDS PLAY AT KIDNAPPING

Teach Your Children Well (Atlas Shrugs)

Chilling: Children in Jenin play at holding a hostage during the Eid al-Adha holiday

A chilling echo of violence as Palestinian children play among rubble with toy guns (Daily Mail UK)

Playing a harmless game of soldiers these Palestinian boys, who have daubed their faces with war paint and carry toy guns, provide a chilling echo of the violence that surrounds them.

And for these children living in a West Bank refugee camp their game could also be a glimpse of a bloody future that all too easily may lie ahead for them.

Jenin is a hotbed of terrorists, according to the Israelis who regularly raid the town and raze the homes of suspected gunmen to the ground.

And in recent years its residents have certainly carried out hundreds of horrific suicide bomb attacks beyond the wall that encircles the West Bank.

Anger and despair are everywhere in Jenin and these children enjoying the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha today will not be immune to the feelings many people share.

HAMAS WANTS 1,400 PRISONERS FOR SHALIT

Hamas Demands 1,400 Palestinian Prisoners for Captured Israeli Soldier - Nidal al-Mughrabi (Reuters)
Hamas will not release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in June 2006, unless Israel meets its demand to free nearly 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 350 with life sentences, Hamas leader Osama al-Muzaini said in Gaza on Wednesday.

See also Poll: Israelis Unwilling to Free Palestinian Murderers (JTA)
Tuesday's Ma'ariv published a survey showing that 67% of Israelis would oppose the release of Palestinians imprisoned for killing Israelis, even if this were a condition for the return of captive soldier Gilad Shalit. Asked whether the Olmert government should accept Hamas' recent offer of a truce in Gaza, 59% said no and 36% said yes.

With Shalit on table, Israel weighs ceasefire with Hamas
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Although they are not talking to each other directly, Israel and Hamas may be about to strike a deal that would include a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the abducted Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

ISRAELI TOWN FEARS KIDNAPPING THROUGH GAZA TUNNELS

At Rocket-Plagued Kibbutz, Kidnapping through Tunnels from Gaza Is Real Worry - Mijal Grinberg (Ha'aretz)
Tuesday began for Kibbutz Kerem Shalom with a Kassam rocket, shattering some windows. There was also a barrage of mortar shells, starting a fire. Altogether, Palestinians fired nine mortars and six Kassam rockets at Israel during the day. But neither rockets nor mortars are considered the most serious security threat, which is the possibility that militants will tunnel from Gaza to the kibbutz and make an attack. This is how IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped last year.

HAMAS THREATENS TO HARM KIDNAPPED ISRAELI SOLDIER

Hamas: We'll harm Schalit if IDF enters Gaza (JPost)
Hamas has threatened to harm kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit if the IDF carries out a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, Army Radio reported on Friday.

Quoting Saudi newspaper Al-Jarida, the report cites Hamas's Syrian-based leader Khaled Mashaal, saying that he made an agreement with Iranian partners to increase violence against Israel which includes a threat to harm Schalit.

The planned escalation would be implemented in an effort to prevent an incursion into the Strip and cause talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to fail.

According to the report, escalation will include suicide bombings deep in Israeli territory as well as kidnappings of additional IDF troops.

The Popular Resistance Committees also warned that it would increase violence against Israel. Spokesman Abu Mujahed told Nazareth-based newspaper A-Sinara that if Israel were to invade Gaza, the group will no longer aim its rockets exclusively at Sderot, but will begin firing at Ashkelon, as well as other cities.

CURIOUS HOW HAMAS IS THREATENING TO HARM SCHALIT AFTER CLAIMING THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS KIDNAPPING.

ISRAEL RELEASES SENIOR HAMAS "BARGAINING CHIP"

Israel Quietly Releases Senior Hamas 'Bargaining Chip'
(IsraelNN.com) Israel released a prominent Hamas terrorist last week, according to Hamas sources. Jamal al-Tawil, considered the leader of Hamas in the Ramallah region, was involved in a Jerusalem suicide bombing in 2001 and was elected mayor of the Ramallah-area village of Al-Bireh while still in prison.

It is unclear whether the senior terrorist's release is a "good-will gesture," part of a prisoner release to gain the freedom of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit or simply a scheduled release. Al-Tawil's sentence had been served but he was being held in administrative detention and his name repeatedly appeared on lists exchanged between Israel and Hamas with regard to a prisoner swap for Shalit

HAMAS VOWS TO NEVER RECOGNIZE ISRAEL, ETC.

Hamas: We'll never recognize Israel (JPost)
Hamas on Saturday marked its 20th anniversary by vowing to continue the "jihad" against Israel and never recognize its right to exist.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians participated in a main rally organized by Hamas in the center of Gaza City in what was seen as one of the movement's biggest shows of force.

Shouting, "We won't recognize Israel," the Hamas supporters burned Israeli flags and chanted slogans against the US.

The rally was held in the same square where thousands of Fatah supporters attended a memorial for Yasser Arafat last month. Hamas officials estimated that nearly 250,000 Palestinians participated in the rally as opposed to less than 50,000 who showed up for the Arafat event....

"The IDF's withdrawal from Gaza will be nothing like its invasion, the Strip will become a graveyard for its troops," Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri warned Saturday in his chilling opening address at the Gaza rally.

"Jews... we have already dug your graves," exclaimed Masri.

Referring to the case of Gilad Schalit, the Hamas official said the soldier would "never see the light until all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails." Mazini said Hamas would never recognize Israel or give up Palestinian rights, including the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees.

FATAH POLICEMEN IN GAZA DEFECT TO AL QAEDA

Fatah Policemen in Gaza "Defect to Al-Qaeda" - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Scores of Fatah policemen who used to serve in the PA security forces in Gaza and who recently lost their jobs have now joined the al-Qaeda-affiliated Army of Islam, sources in the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said Thursday. The Army of Islam is headed by Abu Muhammad al-Ansari, also known as Mumtaz Dughmush. A former PA Preventive Security Service officer, Ansari belongs to the Dughmush clan, whose members have kidnapped several foreign nationals, including BBC reporter Alan Johnston, and bombed Internet cafes, hair salons and restaurants. The Army of Islam participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006, along with Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees. After Hamas took over Gaza, the Army of Islam struck a deal permitting the group to retain its weapons on condition they only be used to attack Israel. Over the past few months, the Army of Islam has been involved in the smuggling of large amounts of weapons and explosives into Gaza from Sinai, according to PA security officials, who said members of the group had established close ties with al-Qaeda operatives in Egypt and other Arab and Islamic countries.

See also "The Army of the Nation" - Another Al-Qaeda Affiliate in the Gaza Strip - Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi (ICA/JCPA)

TERROR GROUPS PLANNING TO KIDNAP ISRAELIS

Shin Bet: Terror Groups Planning to Kidnap Israelis from Sinai to Gaza - Amnon Meranda (Ynet News)
Terror groups are trying to kidnap Israelis from the Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

REPORT: IDF CAPTIVES HELD BY HEZBOLLAH ARE DEAD

Der Spiegel: IDF Captives Held by Hizbullah are Dead (INN)
The German weekly says the negotiations are for the bodies, in exchange for Samir Kuntar and four Hizbullah fighters.