"Most senior officials in the political system and in the security apparatus realize that at some point, this man will have to be released because he's probably the only one with whom we could sign an agreement," said Shlomo Brom, a former top intelligence analyst now serving as a scholar at the congressionally funded United States Institute of Peace. "If the imperative is to bring about the collapse of the Hamas government as soon as possible, then it is also imperative to prepare for the day after."