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By Haaretz Staff and agencies
Jonathan Pollard's attorney said Sunday that the United States would release the convicted spy if Pollard's onetime handler, Rafi Eitan, handed over a secret document which details broad Israeli government involvement in the affair.
U.S. and Israeli officials Sunday denied media reports that Israel may free jailed Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti in exchange for the Bush administration releasing Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for treason.
Pollard's wife, Esther, was quoted Sunday as saying that Eitan, now in line for a cabinet ministry as head of the Pensioners party, had told her that the only mistake Eitan had made in the affair was not to have "fired a bullet into [Pollard's] head," to keep the affair from being exposed. Eitan denied the account as "deceitful, fabricated, and utterly lacking in logic."
Hours later, Pollard's Israeli attorney, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, told the radio that "Rafi Eitan has in his hands a document that the Americans are insisting that they must receive. They insisted in the past, they are insisting to this day. In fact, in this we see the stance of the government of Israel and of Pollard's handlers.
According to Leitner, "Had the Israel come and told the Americans the true version, what they want to receive, Pollard would have been released."
On Passover Eve last week, Leitner sent a letter to Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert asking him not to appoint Eitan as a minister in the new cabinet. Leitner has threatened to petition the High Court of Justice against any such appointment. She claims that it would disgrace the government if Eitan, Pollard's recruiter and handler, were given a portfolio.
"Pollard's handlers threw all of the responsibility for this enterprise, for this operation, onto Pollard himself. They claimed that this was a one-man operation, they claimed that the prime ministers and all those who benefited from this information, were not privy to the secret. For this reason, the U.S. buried Pollard under an indeterminate life sentence."
Asked if the secret document lists all the israeli officials aho knew of the Pollard affair, Leitner said she could not divulge the contents of the document, but said "Israel stands by its refusal, still dumping all the responsibility on Pollard ... even though we know that all the prime ministers knew of this matter."
"They must tell the Americans, gentlemen, it was Israel which spied on the United States, not Pollard, but Israel."
U.S., Israel deny reports of swap plan
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, referring to the media reports of a proposal to swap Barghouti and Pollard, dismissed them as "speculation."
"The Pollard case is over. He is serving a sentence," said spokesman Stewart Tuttle. "As for Barghouti, that is something for the Israelis to decide."
Israeli political sources said such a swap was first proposed in 2004 by aides to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but was rejected outright by mid-level U.S. officials.
Pollard's wife said Sunday that President George Bush had proposed releasing Pollard, but that Israel had refused to move the matter forward.
Army Radio reported Sunday morning that Israel would propose the exchange soon.
"We know Bush. He is a religious man. Through a contact person who is very close to us and who has his ear, he proposed freeing Jonathan for seder night this year," Esther Pollard told the radio, referring to the eve of Passover, last Wednesday night.
"We passed the message to the prime minister, but instead of this, we see the headlines that perhaps Pollard will be released in exchange for Barghouti."
The radio said Israel would hope to convince the Bush administration that freeing Barghouti, a senior Fatah figure, would weaken the new Palestinian government under Hamas.
Barghouti's wife, Fadwa, also voiced skepticism about a swap. "This is perhaps the fourth time I have heard such rumors," she told Reuters, but added that releasing Barghouthi and other Palestinian prisoners would offer "a political breakthrough."
Israeli officials believe that in several months, when the chaos in the Palestinian Authority increases, the U.S. will agree to release Pollard in exchange for Barghouti, serving five life sentences plus 40 years in an Israeli jail for involvement in deadly terrorist acts, the radio said at the weekend.
The officials said it was still too early to put such a deal on the table, but when the tide turned against the Hamas government, a situation could develop in which Barghouti's release could restore Fatah to power in the PA. In such an event, the officials said, the Americans were likely to agree to a Pollard-Barghouti deal.
However, Esther Pollard said Israel was uninterested in Pollard, rather in Barghouti. "Every time the government wants to push this or that initiative, suddenly they bring up Pollard's name," she said, speaking in Hebrew.
"This is all about Barghouti, not Pollard. They want to free Barghouti," she said. "Barghouti will go free and Jonathan will stay in prison."
The officials confirmed that two years ago, around the time that Barghouti was sentenced, the idea of releasing him in exchange for Pollard was raised.
An Israeli official mentioned the idea in conversation with a U.S. counterpart, without prior approval from former prime minister Ariel Sharon. The U.S. official rejected the offer categorically, but Israeli officials believe nevertheless that the entry of Hamas into the PA government will lead the U.S. to change its position.
In the letter, Leitner claims that the U.S. refusal to release Pollard is based on the fact that Eitan refuses to hand over to the U.S. a specific document in his possession.
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