Marwan Barghouti’s release as a precondition is news – news that hasn’t been totally confirmed. Haaretz reports that Abbas told Time Magazine that in 2008, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised that if Israel ever negotiated a prisoner exchange with Hamas in order to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Israel would release prisoners to the Palestinian Authority as well.
Now, Abbas appears to be trying to cash in on that promise, making it a requirement before he comes to the negotiating table – albeit with a different Israeli prime minister. Israeli-Arab legislator Ahmed Tibi told the Israeli parliament this week, “Israel should not be surprised if the two current conditions the Palestinians have set for restarting talks... become three, the third being the prisoner release,” Haaretz reports.
