Israelis unwilling to free Palestinian murderers
JTA Published: 12/25/2007
www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106093.html

Two-thirds of Israelis do not want to release jailed Palestinians "with
blood on their hands" in a swap for captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

Tuesday's Ma'ariv published a survey showing that 67 percent of the public
would oppose the release of Palestinians imprisoned for killing Israelis,
even if this were a condition for the return of Shalit from Gaza, where he
was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen exactly 18 months ago.

Thirty-three percent of Israelis would agree to an amnesty for those
Palestinians "with blood on their hands," a category that has so far been
excluded from any discussions of a possible prisoner swap.

Hamas demands the release of hundreds of prisoners, including top
terrorists, as ransom for Shalit. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this
week appointed a top Cabinet committee to review the government's criteria
for which inmates may or may not be granted early release.

Asked whether the Olmert government should accept Hamas' recent offer of a
truce in the Gaza Strip, 59 percent of those polled by Ma'ariv said no and
36 percent said yes.

But opinion was more split on whether Olmert should order an invasion of
Gaza to stop cross-border rocket fire, an operation that military experts
believe would cost scores of troops' lives. Forty-six percent of Israelis
would support such a mission, the Ma'ariv poll found, while 45 percent would
be opposed.

The survey had 400 respondents and a 4.9 percent margin of error.