Israel holding Hamas commander as 'bargaining chip'
Agence France Presse, 10 September 2007
A top Hamas commander snatched by Israeli commando troops last week will be used as a bargaining chip for the release of a soldier held by Gaza militants, a senior Israeli minister said on Monday.
"The ability to acquire new assets which are concretely relevant to the release of Gilad Shalit gives us a considerable advantage," Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter told army radio, referring to the Israeli soldier who was seized in June 2006.
Hamas said Mohawah al-Qadi, a senior member of its armed wing and a commander in its paramilitary Executive Force, was abducted by Israeli forces dressed in Palestinian security forces uniforms on Friday in the south of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Dichter's comments mark the first time an Israeli official has confirmed that Qadi was abducted and being held by Israel.
Dichter, former head of the Shin Beth internal security service, compared Qadi's arrest to two senior Lebanese militia leaders abducted by Israel - Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abdel Karim Ubeid - who were released in 2004 in a prisoner swap with the Shiite Hezbollah militia.
"At the end, they were used as very important bargaining chips," he said.
When asked if the top Hamas commander was also a bargaining chip, Dichter said "yes, of course."
Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks in an effort to broker a prisoner swap for the release of Shalit, who was captured by militants from several Palestinian groups, including Hamas, in a cross-border raid near Gaza.
[editor's note: "[An] Israeli undercover raid late Friday night into the southern Gaza city of Rafah by commandos in Hamas police uniforms [...] captured a Hamas military commander, Mohawah al-Qadi, and brought him to Israel by helicopter." Steven Erlanger The New York Times, 11 September 2007, p.A12]