Haggai Hadas, the Israeli negotiator heading talks with the Palestinian Hamas movement over the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, announced Wednesday to leave his post.
Hadas dismissed an earlier report by Channel 2 television that he was resigning out of frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the affair, believing that not all means have been exhausted in a national endeavor to bring Shalit home.
"I did not resign," Hadas said in a statement issued late Wednesday by the prime minister's bureau, "The prime minister and I agreed from the start that I would assume the post for a limited period of two years due to family obligations. That period is now coming to an end."
Hadas, a former senior Mossad official, was appointed by Netanyahu in May 2009 as a full-time negotiator on behalf of the Israeli government.
Since then, negotiations have been held via a German mediator. Hadas' work was assisted and overseen by a public committee chaired by Netanyahu and staffed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Minister for Intelligence Services Dan Meridor and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, among others.
All efforts to secure the release of Shalit, who was captured in a cross-border raid by Gaza militants in 2006, have failed.
Hamas' military wing has not budged from its demand for the release of around 1,400 Palestinians from Israeli jails. Netanyahu is said to have already agreed to free some 1,000 prisoners.
Hadas has reportedly grown frustrated with Netanyahu's hesitation to explore additional means that could possibly lead to the sealing of a deal with Hamas, perhaps even with the premier's refusal to compromise.
In his statement, however, the negotiator claimed he fully supports the way Netanyahu has handled the negotiations, saying that over the last two years the latter has "led an active, vigorous policy to free Shalit, most of which cannot be revealed."
He informed the captured soldier's parents and the German mediator of his decision and will probably not leave the post until a successor is found.
Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Wednesday that Netanyahu's bureau seeks to find a replacement for Hadas "as soon as possible. "
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