A Hamas commander was placed in solitary confinement for speaking to Hamas radio on a smuggled mobile phone. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Hamas “military wing” commander Abdullah al-Barghouti, who is serving 67 life terms in Israel’s Ramon prison, has been placed in solitary confinement for speaking to Hamas radio on a smuggled mobile phone.

In the radio interview, Barghouti, known as the Palestinian terrorist group’s “engineer,” urged Hamas and its Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades to take their time when negotiating any future prisoner swap deal with Israel.

Barghouti, who was furious at Hamas for excluding him from the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner swap (in which 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for the Israeli soldier, who was captured by Hamas in 2006), said, “We are willing to stay in jail as long as it takes, even if it’s another thousand years — Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades should not be hasty in reaching a prisoner exchange deal with Israel.”

Palestinian sources told Israel Hayom that the Israel Prison Service has taken disciplinary measures against Barghouti and that he has been placed in solitary confinement.