John Lyons, Middle East correspondent March 18
NEGOTIATIONS to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit collapsed last night with Israel branding Hamas "hardcore terrorists" who had backtracked on agreements already made during the talks.
Despite near fever-pitch excitement in Israel about the 22-year-old's imminent release, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert personally informed Sergeant Shalit's parents that intensive talks in Cairo between Israel and Hamas had failed to secure the release of their son.
The spokesman for Mr Olmert, Mark Regev, confirmed to The Australian that the talks had failed, saying: "We have seen a hardening of the position of Hamas -- we saw Hamas backtrack on what we thought had been achieved.
"As a result our young serviceman who has been held for close to three years, we haven't got him out yet.
"Obviously this is not the result we wanted but we are dealing with people who are hardcore terrorists."
Sergeant Shalit was captured on June 25, 2006, in a clash on the Israel-Gaza border between Israeli Defence Forces soldiers and Hamas. He has been held in a secret location believed to be in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Olmert, due to hand over to incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as early as this week, was keen to secure Sergeant Shalit's release before he left office as the soldier had been captured during his term.
Mr Olmert sent to Egypt two of the country's most senior officials -- chief of Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet, Yuval Diskin, and chief prisoner negotiator Ofer Dekel -- to finalise negotiations. On Sunday, Mr Olmert asked the two officials to remain in Cairo as it became clear that negotiations were in their final stage.
It is believed that Mr Diskin had got to the point where he was going through the list of prisoners Hamas wanted released and either agreeing or not agreeing.
Interest in the Shalit issue heightened a week ago when his parents, Noam and Aviva, moved into a tent at the end of the street where Mr Olmert lives in Jerusalem to raise the focus on the issue.
Excitement about a possible release was raised with public statements from the Hamas and Israeli sides.
Hamas's website only a day ago suggested a deal was close when it said: "Israel has agreed to free all the prisoners on the updated list."
And Israel's Pensioners' Affairs Minister, Rafi Eitan, added to the media frenzy when he visited the Shalit tent to meet the soldier's parents and said: "I believe that the results of the talks will be positive ... If an agreement is brought for cabinet approval, I have no doubt that it will vote in favour."
Mr Olmert then ordered the chief of staff of the IDF, Gabi Ashkenazi, to return early from a tour of the US to attend a special cabinet meeting.
That cabinet meeting was still scheduled to go ahead early today at which Mr Olmert was expected to report on the negotiations and urge any future government to continue with attempts to free Sergeant Shalit.
But supporters of Sergeant Shalit believed they had their best chance of his release under Mr Olmert and that Mr Netanyahu will drive a much harder bargain with Hamas.
Israel was prepared to agree to the release of at least 450 Hamas prisoners in exchange for Sergeant Shalit, making it one of the largest prisoner exchanges in Israel's history.
It would also have led to a fascinating legal situation -- under Israel's constitution anyone has 48 hours to protest to the Supreme Court about the early release of a prisoner.
It was expected that families of some of those killed by Hamas actions could have launched legal actions in the Supreme Court once they knew the names of the prisoners to be released.
Mr Regev would not go into detail about why the talks failed, saying to do so could jeopardise future attempts to free Sergeant Shalit.
But Israeli media has reported widely that the major obstacle was Israel's insistence that some of the Hamas prisoners deemed to be a terrorist threat to Israel be forced to leave Gaza or the West Bank for other countries.
It is believed that Hamas had agreed to this condition at one point in recent days but then changed its mind.
Mr Regev said: "Obviously the process of trying to get him out will continue. But Israel came to these talks with a great deal of flexibility because we wanted to get our serviceman released."
Of Hamas, he said: "They're hardcore terrorists and we have got to be very careful about how we deal with them."
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