Palestinians agree deal for return of abducted soldier

The Palestinians are offering to return Gilad Shalit to the Israelis if Israel will agree to a ceasefire.

An adviser to Mr Abbas told the Guardian that all Palestinian politicians were united on the need to free the Israeli soldier and stop all violence in Gaza, but the obstacles were the Israeli government and the Hamas leadership in Damascus.

"The problem is that both Islamic Jihad and Hamas have to seek the advice of their political bureaux in Damascus and we are waiting for their response," he said.

Ibrahim al-Naja, a Hamas minister in Ramallah, told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz: "This initiative was presented in an attempt to alleviate Palestinian suffering, but now it depends on Israel, which is showing no indication yet of its willingness for a ceasefire."

The Israelis should accept this deal. After all, the kidnap of Gilad Shalit was supposedly where all this madness began.

And, with the war against Hizbullah going so badly, this would give the Israelis an opportunity to concentrate on the greater problem that exists on their northern border. Stopping their senseless attacks on the people of Palestine would free them to do this.

The futility of Israel's behaviour over the past few weeks has been highlighted by the news that Israel is now considering acceding to the request of prisoner exchange.

According to the aide, Israel is willing to release Palestinian prisoners in return for Cpl Shalit but insists the exchange will not be simultaneous and its release of prisoners will be described as a "goodwill gesture" and not as a direct exchange.

When this senseless fighting is over, when we finally know the cost of this war in terms of loss of infrastructure and loss of human life, we will be justified in asking what was it all for when the Israelis accept a deal that was always on the table before she unleashed carnage in the Middle East.

Israel should learn a hard lesson from all of this. The days are gone when she can attack the Arabs with impunity.

This should hasten a return to the negotiating table over the larger question of the return of the Occupied Territories.

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Tags: Olmert, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Gilad Shalit, Hamas, Hizbullah, capture, kidnap, Lebanon, Syria, Iran,