Pollard-Barghouti swap dismissed, but then?

By Dan Baron

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JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli and American officials have dismissed reports that convicted
spy Jonathan Pollard might be released in a swap.
Landmark elections in Israel and the Palestinian Authority have raised fresh speculation that Pollard, the former U.S. Navy civilian analyst serving a life prison sentence for spying for Israel, could win clemency as part of
wider diplomatic Mideast maneuvering.
Israel Army Radio reported that Israel planned to offer to release jailed Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Pollard after Prime Minister-elect Ehud Olmert forms his new government.

The rationale for such a swap is rooted in Hamas' political takeover in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As a leader of the rival, more pragmatic faction Fatah, Barghouti, if freed, could be expected to undermine the radical Islamic group—something both Jerusalem and Washington want.
Barghouti is serving five life sentences plus 40 years for murder and attempted murder in the form of terrorist attacks.
Israeli government officials denied the reported plan, and a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv dismissed it as "speculation."
That left open the possibility that someone in Olmert's office was floating a trial balloon.
Olmert is keen to shore up right-wing support ahead of planned withdrawals from the West Bank.
Being perceived as campaigning for Pollard could help Olmert with more conservative voters.
Still busy trying to build a governing coalition, Olmert was expected to turn the Pensioners Party led by Rafi Eitan—Pollard's recruiter and handler.
Eitan took responsibility for the Pollard affair.
Eitan, now 79, has vowed to lobby for Pollard from the Knesset. But that has done little to mollify Pollard, who accuses Eitan of forsaking him.
Through his lawyer, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, Pollard has threatened to petition Israel's High Court of Justice against any Cabinet portfolio appointment offered to Eitan.
Such an open legal hearing, Darshan-Leitner said, would entail going public with a "very damaging" secret document that she alleged Eitan still holds.