Israeli media said on Thursday that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) insists that the upcoming prisoner and detainee exchange deal include the release of 3 prominent Palestinian leaders from Israeli prisons.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper explained that these three are: Member of the Central Committee of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Marwan Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, and Hamas leader Abdullah Barghouti, according to what was reported by Anatolia Agency.

Anatolia reported that Palestinian public opinion polls indicate that Marwan Barghouti (64 years old) - who has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to 5 life sentences and 40 years in prison - is the most popular among Fatah leaders to head the Palestinian Authority after President Mahmoud Abbas.

Yedioth Ahronoth also considered that the release of Marwan Barghouti "is capable of changing the face of the Palestinian Authority."

Despite Barghouti's arrest and sentencing, he had a prominent presence on the Palestinian scene from behind the prison walls, as he was the one who prepared the formula for the Palestinian factions' agreement in 2003 to stop military operations for three months, in exchange for the occupation stopping the assassinations and raids it carried out, and this step was the beginning of For his continuous presence from inside his prison.

As for Ahmed Saadat, the occupation forces arrested him in December 2008 and sentenced him to 30 years in prison on charges of involvement in the killing of former Israeli minister Rehabab Ze’evi in 2001.

Hamas leader Abdullah Barghouti is currently serving a 67-life prison sentence, which is an unprecedented sentence in the history of Israeli courts, and the occupation accuses him of manufacturing explosive devices that “led to the death of 66 Israelis and the injury of 500 others.”

Israel had refused to include the three leaders in the “Loyalty of the Free” exchange deal in 2011, which included the exchange of soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Anatolia indicated that the Israeli government did not comment on this Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper report, regarding Hamas’ insistence on releasing the three names.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Hamas movement said that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, at the head of a delegation from the movement’s leadership, in light of the continuing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

The French news agency quoted a source in the movement as saying that the discussions in Cairo will address “stopping the aggression and war in preparation for a prisoner exchange deal, ending the siege on Gaza, bringing in aid, and withdrawing the Israeli army from the Strip.”

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia