Hamas hardens position on kidnapped soldier’s release

Israeli negotiators returned to Jerusalem for a Tuesday afternoon Cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after Hamas officials "hardened" their position over the release of an abducted soldier. “It became clear during the discussions that Hamas had hardened its position, reneged on understandings that had been formulated over the past year and raised extreme demands,” Olmert’s office said in a statement. Israeli Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin and the prime minister’s special envoy, Ofer Dekel, had been taking part in Egyptian-mediated talks in Cairo regarding the release of Gilad Shalit.

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Talks continue over kidnapped Israeli soldier

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert postponed a Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday as talks aimed at securing the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier were extended. “In light of the negotiations that are currently continuing in Cairo regarding the release of Gilad Shalit, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided…

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Turkey bombs suspected Kurdish rebel targets in Iraq

Turkish warplanes bombed suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Thursday, a military spokesman said Friday. They gathered at a protest tent erected by Noam and Aviva Shalit in front of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s house in Jerusalem and demanded that he develop a deal to release the soldier. The Shalits have moved from their home in Israel’s Galilee region to the tent across from Olmert’s home, a step designed to increase pressure on the government to get their son freed.

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Israelis protest for captured soldier

Hundreds of people in Israel made a show of support Friday for the parents of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. They gathered at a protest tent erected by Noam and Aviva Shalit in front of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s house in Jerusalem and demanded that he develop a deal to release the soldier

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Israel demands release of missing soldier

Israel on Wednesday demanded the release of an Israeli soldier seized by militants more than two years ago as a condition of lifting its economic blockade on Gaza, a government spokesman said. Gaza’s Hamas leadership rejected the decision by Israel’s Security Cabinet to link the release of Gilad Shalit to the lifting of the blockade.

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Hamas says it may consider Israeli soldier’s release

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Monday that it is willing to consider the release of an Israeli soldier who was seized in a cross-border raid more than two years ago. But the Hamas leadership of Gaza will not release Gilad Shalit as part of a broader cease-fire agreement with Israel, according to a statement released Monday from Hamas political official Raafat Naseef

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Israel denies reports of Hamas negotiations

Israel’s prime minister denied media reports that it is negotiating with the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, but said there will be Israeli "consultations" Sunday "regarding the situation in the south." “Should a decision of any kind be required, it will be made only via a meeting of the Security Cabinet and after taking into account all of the new political circumstances that have been created in the wake of the recent Israeli elections,” Yanki Galanti, the media adviser for Ehud Olmert, said Saturday night in a statement. The consultations are to take place among Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Israel held elections Tuesday which resulted in a near-tie between Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Olmert blasts ‘damaging’ reports on kidnapped Israeli soldier

Recent media reports about the negotiations to secure the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier are "exaggerated and damaging," outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday. “This complex and sensitive process requires due caution regarding all that is said,” Olmert said at the start of his weekly Cabinet session

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