CAIRO: A deal to release an Israeli soldier captured last June by Palestinian militants in exchange for Palestinians held in Israel is close to being sealed, a spokesman for the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement said Sunday. We are close to a deal but it is tied to an Israeli response, Osama Hamdan said. There is a big Egyptian effort aimed at reaching a deal, with some conditions, he said. There has been no Israeli response for our conditions yet. There have been positive signs from the Israelis but no definitive response … If they agree to our conditions, we will have a deal. If not, we are back to square one.
A senior Palestinian official said that Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based head of Hamas politburo, would not travel to Cairo as part of talks on the swap. Hamdan said he was planning to come to the Egyptian capital himself in the coming days but did not specify a date. He also said that Hamas would not elaborate on the conditions of the prisoner exchange until the swap happens.
Hamas has demanded the release of some 1,000 Palestinians held in Israel in exchange for Corporal Gilad Shalit, whose capture sparked a prolonged Israeli offensive in Gaza where more than 250 Palestinians have since been killed. On Friday, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza said that Hamas wanted leverage over which Palestinian prisoners are to be released. This question is currently the object of talks between Egypt and the Israelis, Fawzy Barhum said.
