The announcement on Tuesday that Netanyahu had done a deal with Hamas in which Gilad Shalit, held for 5 years by Hamas, would be exchanged for 1000 of the Palestinians held by Israel led to rejoicing in Israel and mixed feelings in Palestine. Doing the calculations are Maan News (1 ,2) Dimi Reider (3) Larry Derfner (4) Ebaa Rezeq (5) and BICOM (6)

Former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband observes the stunted children, overcrowded schools, power cuts and wrecked buildings in Gaza, and deplores the irrationality of the inertia of all political agencies

Since his capture in 2006, Gilad Shalit has been an emblem of the impotence of Israel and intransigence of Hamas. Now the prisoner swap will bring rewards for many of the players (including Egypt) – but not Abbas or high-profile Palestinians whom Israel wants to hang on to. Reports from Al Arabiya and Haaretz

The Arab Awakening has broken all the rigidities of regimes round the southern and esstern Mediterannean. In this (abbreviated) essay, Tony Klug clesely examines the options now facing Israel and the Palestininans – including Hamas which must, he says, ‘openly purge its Covenant of its virulently anti-Semitic content’

At a conference in Tehran, Hamas leaders restate their view that Palestinian statehood can only follow Palestinian liberation, 1. Showing great consistency over the years, Khalid Mishaal, in a long interview in Palestine Studies in 2008, describes his tutelage in radical politics and Islam and his beliefs now. His views on violence were not mentioned

One of a slew of Wikileaks about Israel reveals that not only does the IDF use drones to kill militants – and many civilian bystanders – but it has kept the US Ambassador to Israel well-informed of their tactics

Ynet publishes an alarmist report of the success of the BDS campaign written by Giulio Meotti, who has written a book on Israel’s victims of terrorism. An interview with him about the book is posted 2nd. 3rd is a report of the protest at the Proms on Thursday night, and lastly a piece written before the Proms protest by Jewish classical music blogger Jessica Duchen arguing for boycotting the Israel Philharmonic

South African Shafiq Morton found much of his critique of Zionist blindness was no longer controversial. The sticking point for his readers was Hamas;despite experience with the ANC of the gap between demagoguery and practical negotiation they could not hear the nuance.

France’s President has made another intervention in the Middle East with a promise to get Hamas to release Shalit – a possibility which Ehud Barak thinks Netanyahu is blocking

Obama’s speech underscored ‘that self-government under Israel’s brutal occupation and blackmail is an illusion and it might be better to dissolve the Palestinian Authority that sustains this illusion’ writes Ali Abunimah

The American Congress responded to PM Netanyahu as a supine people once responded to their out-of-touch Arab dictators – with appeasing applause – writes Dima Khatib. They must all know you can’t choose who represents the other side

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas leader ih Syria has said negotiations with Israel should be given a chance. Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas official in Gaza, says this does not represent the position of Hamas

The JC has launched an attack on the Pears Foundation, and on Forward Thinking and its founder, William Sieghart, for promoting Hamas and terrorists. Are they curing left-wing blindness about violent men, or misleading their readers asks Antony Lerman?

In an interview on Ma’an radio, Hamas leader Az-Zahhar said they could not recognise Israel becase this would jeopardise the right of return of the Palestinian diaspora

Knesset member Shaul Mofaz, former Chief of General Staff and Defence Minister, applauds the killing of bin Laden and urges the treatment of Hamas leaders as legitimate targets for assassination

Khaled Hroub’s study of various, little known, recent documents from Hamas, which concentrate on building civil society and its institutions, will surprise those who know the organisation only by its violent words and deeds

In a House of Lords debate on the Middle East process on 4th May the Chief Rabbi spoke only to condemn Hamas’ denial of Israel’s right to exist. Full debate available on www.theyworkforyou.com/lords

Reuters reports that Hamas in Gaza executed a man accused of collaboration with the occupying power without presidential approval, which the law requires

English translation of the Palestinian National Reconcilation Agreement made in Cairo, April 2011

Hamas and Fatah have lost their sponsors in the Arab spring, and Egypt moved quickly on its policy priority of Palestinian unity