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Israeli forces arrest Hamas leaders after release efforts for captured soldier fail

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Israeli forces arrested 12 Hamas leaders during raids in the West Bank Thursday. Among those seized were former Palestine deputy prime minister Nasseredin al-Shaer and Hamas officials Adnan Asfur and Raafat Nassif. The seizures came after Israel and Hamas failed to reach an agreement on a prisoner exchange on Tuesday. Israel did not obtain the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas in 2006, despite offering to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas blames the failure of the negotiations on Israel, claiming that the Palestinian prisoners Israel was willing to release would have faced deportation from the West Bank. Soon after Shalit's capture, Israel seized Hamas leaders including Palestinian Cabinet ministers and lawmakers. Prisoner exchange negotiations between Israel and Hamas have failed before, although Egypt has been attempting to mediate such negotiations since 2006. Human rights advocates have recently called for the investigation of recent events in Gaza.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).