Israel denies knowledge of imminent Pollard release
By Yossi Melman Haaretz 25 March 2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968068.html

Israel has no knowledge of plans to release Jonathan Pollard from prison in
the United States, where he is serving a life sentence for spying on
Israel's behalf, political sources familiar with the matter said in response
to statements by Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan in an interview last
night with the Knesset television channel.

Eitan, who headed the secret Bureau of Scientific Relations that recruited
and handled Pollard in the 1980s, said yesterday that Pollard will be
released soon. However, in response to a query from Haaretz, he subsequently
emphasized that his words were based on "an intuition." Eitan added that he
regretted his earlier statement, because anything he says might make things
worse for Pollard, and that he should have said, "I hope" Pollard will be
released.

Eitan hopes that President George W. Bush, who is coming to Israel next
month, might on that occasion grant Pollard clemency as a goodwill gesture
for Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations, or else toward the end of his
tenure later this year.