Source: Captors offer new conditions on Gaza standoff

Palestinians are ready to release kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit if Israel sets a timetable for freeing some prisoners, a Palestinian source close to negotiations with Egyptian mediators says
Reuters

Palestinians are ready to release a captive Israeli soldier if Israel sets a timetable for

freeing some prisoners, a Palestinian source close to negotiations with Egyptian mediators said on Wednesday.

Such a proposal would indicate an apparent softening of the stand of the Palestinians holding Corporal Gilad Shalit, captured during a cross border raid on June 25.

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But the source said Israel had told the Egyptians it still rejected such a proposal and has said that it might free some prisoners by the end of the year without any firm promises.

There was no immediate comment from either the captors or Israel.

The source said kidnappers had demanded that Israel guarantee Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak it would free a specific list of prisoners and by what date.

Israel had not agreed to do so, though it said it would release some prisoners by the end of the year if Shalit was freed, the source said, suggesting the Jewish state had softened its initial refusal to free any prisoners for the soldier.

Ramon: Gilad is alive

There has been little information about Shalit since the 19-year-old tank gunner was captured. Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Israel Radio on Wednesday that Israel understood "that Gilad is alive", but he would not say how he knew.

Senior Palestinian sources in the Palestinian government said Wednesday that contacts and mediation efforts over the kidnapped soldier continue.

Government spokesman Dr. Razi Hamad said that the Egyptian security delegation is continuing to offer solutions and ideas in order to bring about a breakthrough between the two side's entrenched stances.

Hamad said that one international source is involved in mediation efforts, and that the central idea being discussed is the release of the kidnapped soldier in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners at a later date.

Palestinian Cabinet Secretary General Muhammad Awad said that contacts were ongoing.

He added that the international community must pressure Israel to end its attacks on Gaza in order to create an atmosphere appropriate for continued discussions. Describing the IDF's activity in Gaza as the Israeli escalation, Awad said it prevented an obstacle to more contacts to free the kidnapped soldier. The Palestinian government called on the kidnappers to keep Gilad Shalit alive.

Ali Waked contributed to the report