Meir Indor, chairman of the "Almagor" Terror Victims Organization, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that releasing terrorists in exchange for Israeli hostages simply perpetuates terrorist attacks in Israel. "Releasing Palestinian prisoners has sealed the fates of many Israeli citizens," said Indor. A clear majority of freed terrorists returned to terrorism. "It can be any one of us. Experience has taught us that releasing terrorists unleashes the next wave of attacks." Indor convened the press conference in the wake of a list published by Hamas of those terrorists the Palestinian Authority is seeking to have released from Israeli jails in exchange for kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The IDF soldier has been held hostage since July 2006 by abductors from the PA's ruling Hamas organization, in conjunction with a second PA terrorist group. Indor's statement to the press was a reiteration of an issue Almagor had tackled by way of statistics in March of this year. According to a study published by the terror victims group , no fewer than 177 innocent citizens, mostly Israeli Jews, were murdered in recent years in attacks perpetrated by terrorists freed from Israeli jails. In 30 separate attacks by rescidivist terrorists, scores of Israelis were also seriously wounded. According to the March study, a clear majority of freed terrorists returned to terrorism after their release - "leading to a price in human life many times greater than the grave difficulties faced by a given individual family," in Almagor's formulation. As part of the group's efforts to raise public awareness of what it sees as the danger of terrorist prisoner releases, Almagor is currently distributing posters bearing the images of the 177 Israelis murdered by freed PA terrorists. Prime Minister 'Disappointed' in Hamas Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday night that he was "disappointed" by the list of terrorists whose freedom is demanded by Hamas in exchange for Cpl. Shalit. The list includes arch-terrorists who have murdered scores of Jewish men, women and children in Israel, and wounded hundreds more. The name of Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader who is serving five life sentences but was involved in the murder of some 30 Jews, was not on the Hamas list. The Prime Minister said in his statement that "our hearts are with the Shalit family" and he promised to continue talks with the Egyptian negotiators who have been attempting for months to broker a deal with the soldier's kidnappers. Olmert met with security officials earlier in the day to discuss the list and other issues relating to the proposed prisoner swap. The Hamas's list of PA prisoners was handed over to the General Security Services (GSS; Shabak) for the organization's review. In coming days, the GSS will present its evaluation of the list to the government. Russian President Discussed Hostages With Assad, Ahmadinejad The Shalit family, along with the families of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who are hostages of the Lebanese Hizbullah, met with Russian Foreign Minster The families appealed to Ivanov to add his political muscle to Israel's efforts. Igor Ivanov Tuesday evening in Jerusalem. The families appealed to Ivanov to add his political muscle to Israel's efforts to free their loved ones. Ivanov told the families of the hostages that Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the matter with the president of Syria, Bashar Assad, and with the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahamdinejad. Both Syria and Iran provide financial and military support to the Hizbullah terrorists who kidnapped Goldwasser and Regev on the northern border last July. Iran, meanwhile, has been peddling its influence and making serious inroads into the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. Foreign Minister Ivanov is expected to meet with PA and Lebanese leaders in coming days. He told the Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser families that he hopes to return with some concrete information about the conditions of their sons after those meetings.
