Last update - 04:15 25/03/2008

Israel denies knowledge of imminent Pollard release

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel has no knowledge of plans to release Jonathan Pollard from prison in the United States, where he is serving a life sentence for spying on Israel's behalf, political sources familiar with the matter said in response to statements by Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan in an interview Monday night with the Knesset television channel.

Eitan, who headed the secret Bureau of Scientific Relations that recruited and handled Pollard in the 1980s, said Monday that Pollard will be released soon. However, in response to a query from Haaretz, he subsequently emphasized that his words were based on "an intuition." Eitan added that he regretted his earlier statement, because anything he says might make things worse for Pollard, and that he should have said, "I hope" Pollard will be released.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=968113&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1

http://mparent7777-1.blogspot.com/2008/03/pollard-to-be-released.html

http://crescentandcross.com/?p=62