Israel replaces envoy to Egypt talks, Hamas irate

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will replace Israel's lead envoy to Egyptian-brokered truce talks with Hamas after he publicly criticised the government's negotiating strategy, officials said on Monday.

Amos Gilad, an adviser to defence minister Ehud Barak, has shuttled to Cairo to try to consolidate the Jan. 18 ceasefire that ended a three-week Israeli assault in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Progress has been stymied by renewed violence and a demand by Olmert that an easing of a blockade on the Palestinian territory, as sought by Hamas, be preceded by an agreement from Hamas to free a captive Israeli soldier.

In a critique quoted by an Israeli newspaper last week, Gilad said the Olmert government had an inconsistent approach to the talks that risked "insulting" the Egyptians.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Israel-replaces-envoy-to-Egypt-talks/rssarticleshow/4177953.cms

A group pushing for Gilad Shalit's release has lashed out at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for ousting a key official in talks aimed at freeing the abducted Israeli soldier.

The Campaign for Gilad Shalit's Release responded angrily to Olmert's announcement Monday that he plans to replace Amos Gilad over his public criticism of the government's negotiating strategy.

The campaign issued a statement saying that, "It is regrettable and worrisome that while an Israeli soldier is rotting in captivity, our leaders are occupied by battles of the ego." Shalit was kidnapped by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid over two years ago.

Gilad is the Defense Ministry's mediator in talks with the Egyptians over a cease-fire agreement with the Palestinian group Hamas. His removal comes at a critical juncture, as Olmert hopes to wind up a truce deal and win Shalit's release before his term ends in a few weeks.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066326.html

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is, of course, permitted to decide not to use top defense official Amos Gilad as Israel's envoy in negotiations with Egypt. If the prime minister lost his faith in the state's representative on such delicate issues, maybe it is best that Gilad is replaced.

There is no question that Gilad, the director of the Defense Ministry political-security bureau, acted foolishly when he personally attacked Olmert's conduct in an on-the-record conversation with Ma'ariv reporter Ben Caspit.

The fact that the article was published on the same morning as the weekly cabinet meeting that was to focus on the cease-fire agreement with Hamas and the prisoner exchange deal for captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, the issues Gilad has been negotiating with the Egyptians, certainly didn't contribute to Olmert's health. Gilad's claim that he did not expect the remarks to be quoted under his name can't be used in his defense. A man who once served as the IDF spokesman is expected to be experienced and careful enough make if very clear, in advance, that he does not wish to be quoted.

At the root of it, apparently, stands the deep-seated mutual hatred between Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Gilad himself, Barak's pointman in the Egyptian talks, angered Olmert by displaying an attitude that was viewed in Jerusalem as overly independent. But the Prime Minister's Office intensive interest in the Gilad affair, mere weeks before Olmert's term concludes, is very telling about the nature of Olmert himself.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066352.html

<snip>

"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reinstated his pointman to Egyptian-brokered truce talks with Hamas on Wednesday after the envoy apologized for publicly criticizing the government's negotiating strategy.

Olmert's office said it would replace Amos Gilad on Monday after a newspaper quoted him as accusing the premier of hurting Cairo's U.S.-backed efforts to consolidate the January 18 ceasefire that ended a three-week Israeli assault in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Gilad, an aide to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, apologized to Olmert and was reinstated, the prime minister's office said.

"The remarks were unjustified, were said in error and it would have been better if they had not been said," it quoted Gilad as saying."

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They really need to get their affairs in order over there, so to speak.